Changes to indoor mask mandates across the Bay Area could be coming as soon as this week.
"We've been discussing this among the health officers in the region and our intention and our plan is to develop a set of metrics that we all share, that are common across the region as to when to lift indoor masking," Dr. Sara Cody told Santa Clara County Supervisors on Tuesday. An "announcement with details" is expected "by the end of this week," she added.
Other public and health officials echoed her comments on Tuesday.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported similar details from Contra Costa County Deputy Health Officer Dr. Ori Tzvieli, who teased "more details on that by the end of the week." He told Contra Costa County Supervisors that health officials are "finalizing that now."
The specific criteria under consideration for relaxing indoor masking mandates will include COVID-19 case, hospitalization and vaccination rates.
Just two weeks after being caught in a maskless controversy of her own and criticizing the subsequent media onslaught, San Francisco Mayor London Breed on Tuesday told the paper that adjustments to the indoor masking rules are "overdue" and "appropriate," given vaccination rates in the Bay Area.
She did not provide a timeline.
The city's director of public health, Dr. Grant Colfax, said last month that some high-risk settings could require masking "for the foreseeable future."
In response to KCBS Radio's request for comment, the San Francisco Department of Public Health sent the following statement: "Our case rates and hospitalizations in San Francisco are trending downward as vaccination rates also increase. SDPH is considering where there may be some flexibility in lowering mask requirements, beginning with settings where there is lower risk, low contact rates and where people are fully vaccinated. While our masking requirements remain in effect, we continue to monitor the data and discussions are ongoing with our regional and state partners on next steps."
In the past and throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, seven Bay Area counties – including San Francisco, Marin, Sonoma, Alameda, Santa Clara, Contra Costa and San Mateo – along with the City of Berkeley have aligned updates to health guidelines and made concurrent announcements. The current indoor mask rules were reissued in July due to the spread of the contagious delta variant of the coronavirus.
Other counties have often followed within days.
Santa Cruz County dropped its indoor mask rule last week.
It was not immediately clear when this week's announcement would come.
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