Santa Clara County is one of the last holdouts in California on indoor masking – but if the next week goes well, they might drop their mandate, according to an announcement on Thursday.
Santa Clara County Public Health Department announced that the county's COVID-19 metrics are continuing to improve, marking an end to the mask mandate as soon as next week.
The average number of daily cases of COVID-19 every seven days totaled 501 as of Thursday, the county's goal was to hit 550 cases or less since universal masking was adopted. If the average number of new daily cases remains at that level for seven consecutive days, the indoor masking requirement could be dropped by next Wednesday.
However, even if masking is dropped, county health officials still recommend that people wear masks when indoors in public spaces.
"Our COVID-19 hospitalizations are low and stable, and today we have met the new case metric as well. These data are very encouraging, and I anticipate that our steady downward trend in cases will continue. If this continues, we will be able to safely transition from a requirement for indoor masking to a strong recommendation on March 2." said Santa Clara County Health Officer Dr. Sara Cody in a statement Thursday. "Sticking to our metrics has helped to ensure that everyone in our community is protected – the elderly, young children, essential workers, and those who are immunocompromised – as our community transmission settles down."
The county has been using three metrics to determine if removing masks is a viable option. Two have already been met – vaccination rates are above 80 percent and hospitalizations have gone down and are stable.
Even though masking is likely to drop soon in Santa Clara, California still requires masking in K-12 schools, and in other settings, like public transit.
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