There are no longer any exceptions to public indoor mask mandates in the Bay Area.
On the same day Contra Costa County's tighter mask mandate went into effect, Alameda County, the City of Berkeley, Marin County, San Francisco and Sonoma County all announced they would follow suit.
California earlier this month reimplemented its universal indoor mask requirement. However, Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco and Sonoma counties, as well as the City of Berkeley, were allowed to maintain their rules, which included exemptions.
The counties and city had previously eased their mask mandates to where fully vaccinated public speakers and performers, or fully vaccinated individuals in groups of 100 or fewer people were allowed to remove their face coverings under "controlled conditions." The latter exemption extended to offices and gyms.
The updated policies now require that all people, regardless of vaccination status, wear a mask at public indoor settings. Contra Costa County's updated order began on Wednesday, while the other five jurisdictions will enforce the amended mandate beginning Thursday.
"The omicron variant is very contagious, and we now know that anyone, regardless of vaccination status, can spread this variant to other people," Dr. Ori Tzvieli, Contra Costa County deputy health officer, said on Wednesday in a release. "We anticipate the case rate and hospitalization numbers to increase over the coming weeks. To reduce spread, cases and hospitalizations, we all need to wear masks anytime we are in an indoor public setting."
COVID-19 cases have increase significantly in all six jurisdictions over the past month, congruent with the proliferation of the omicron variant. The first confirmed case of the strain in the U.S. was detected in San Francisco on Dec. 1.
Each of the aforementioned counties were experiencing a "high" level of community transmission on Wednesday, as defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"We know that our focus in this Omicron surge must be on reducing hospitalizations and maintaining our capacity to care for San Franciscans, and these measures will help ensure this," Dr. Susan Philip, San Francisco Health Officer, said in a press release. "We do not want to wait until it’s too late to implement these measures to better protect our community."
Contra Costa County was the first to tighten its mandate, doing so Tuesday on the heels of announcing on Monday that all law enforcement, firefighters, emergency medical personnel and workers in homeless shelters would be required to receive a booster dose of the COVID-19 vaccine by Jan. 10 or otherwise submit to weekly testing.
San Francisco on Wednesday announced it would require attendees of indoor mega-events, like Golden State Warriors games, to provide proof of a COVID-19 vaccine booster beginning on Feb. 1. Patrons older than 12 but younger than 16 will be checked solely for proof of full vaccination.
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