California is going to look like most of the Bay Area over the next month.
Dr. Mark Ghaly, California Health and Human Services Secretary, announced on Monday the state will require all people, regardless of their COVID-19 vaccination status, to wear masks in indoor public spaces from Dec. 15 until Jan. 15. Ghaly said an increase in cases around Thanksgiving and the omicron variant's spread prompted the move.
Ghaly told reporters in a briefing on Monday cases across the state have increased by 47% since Thanksgiving, averaging over 14 cases per 100,000 residents every day. He said the "rate of rise on case rates across the state" is particularly concerning, as is the potentially quicker impact on hospitalizations and capacity.
State officials are still encouraging unvaccinated residents to complete their series, and Ghaly said California is leaning on its lessons learned from requiring masks in schools this year by mandating face coverings in all public indoor settings.
"As we look at the evidence that masks do make a difference, even a 10% increase in indoor masking can reduce case transmission significantly," Ghaly said.
Just shy of 70% of state residents who are at least 5 years old were fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as of Monday, according to state data. About half of the state didn't have a universal mask mandate on Monday, Ghaly said.
Marin County lifted its public indoor mask mandate last month, after reaching criteria it and seven other Bay Area counties, plus the City of Berkeley, agreed to in October. Dr. Matt Willis, Marin County's head of public health, said last month an indoor mask mandate was "on the table" depending upon how the omicron variant spread. Alameda, Contra Costa and San Francisco counties had also eased mask requirements in certain public indoor settings over the last couple of months.
An Alameda County public health spokesperson told KCBS Radio in an email that officials "are awaiting more information" on how the state's order affects the county's local amendment. Speaking generally, the spokesperson said the more restrictive order prevails, which would be California's in this case.
The San Francisco Department of Public Health told KCBS Radio in a statement that the city will suspend its mask exemption for public indoor settings where everyone is vaccinated, including gyms and offices, beginning on Wednesday.
Contra Costa County implemented a similar exemption on Nov. 1. When reached by email, a spokesperson with the public health department didn't specify whether that exemption will remain beyond Thursday.
"Contra Costa and many other Bay Area counties already have an indoor-masking mandate, so our residents won't be affected like counties that don't have a masking order in place," the spokesperson said.
From the end of last December through this February, Ghaly said nearly 20,000 Californians died of COVID-19 during an eight-week span. Ghaly told reporters on Monday he hoped state residents would heed officials' warning ahead of what was a "difficult time" last year.
"We know that there's going to be people who don't necessarily agree with this who are tired, who aren't going to mask and we hope that those are few and far between," Ghaly said of the state's new masking requirement.
California will also require unvaccinated attendees of indoor events with at least 1,000 people to provide a negative COVID-19 test from within two days, depending on the type of test. A PCR test result from no more than two days before the event will be required, and an antigen test must be conducted within a day of the event.
The state, beginning Monday, will also recommend all out-of-state travelers be tested for COVID-19 between three and five days of arriving in California.
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