All Bay Area counties, except for Santa Clara County, have announced that they are lifting mask mandates for vaccinated people starting Feb. 16.
San Francisco Mayor London Breed took to Twitter Wednesday to announce the updated COVID-19 guidelines, stating that unvaccinated residents will still be required to wear a mask indoors.
"Vaccinated people will no longer be required to wear masks in most indoor settings, including restaurants, bars, gyms, grocery stores, offices, museums, and other locations," she wrote.
Eleven Bay Area and Central Coast health officers joined Breed in the decision to lift mask requirements.
"In alignment with the State, the Bay Area counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Monterey, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Cruz, (San Benito), Solano, Sonoma, and the City of Berkeley will lift universal mask requirements for most indoor public settings beginning Wednesday, February 16," Alison Hawkes, a San Francisco Department of Public Health spokesperson, said in a press release.
Due to the transmissibility of the omicron variant, the United States has reached a form of immunity, allowing health officials to lower COVID-19 defenses, Dr. Yvonne Maldonado, professor of health and infectious diseases at Stanford, explained to KCBS Radio.
"It's estimated that 80% of people in the U.S. will have been infected by the end of the omicron surge, so we're certainly reaching that point where we have short-term immunity," she said. "This might be a good time to consider lifting mandates."
Under state law, indoor masking will still be required for everyone, regardless of vaccination status, in public transportation settings, hospitals, shelters and schools.
Businesses, venue operators and hosts may still require mask wearing indoors moving forward to protect the health of staff and customers.
Despite the lifted requirement, health officials strongly recommend wearing masks and urged residents to receive vaccines and boosters to further strengthen defenses.
Santa Clara County is the only Bay Area county to not lift the indoor mask mandate.
"We're taking a different course in Santa Clara County, in that we are continuing to follow our data and metrics to tell us when it's appropriate to lift," Dr. Sara Cody, the county health officer, told KCBS Radio.
People will be required to wear masks in all indoor public settings.
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