SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – With COVID-19 cases on the rise throughout the Bay Area, San Jose city workers are now facing a new, albeit temporary, mask requirement.
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The new requirement, which is set right now to last just two weeks, comes just a month after the city dropped its general masking mandate.
"They're trying to readjust a little bit as the new variants come through," said UCSF infectious Disease Expert Dr. George Rutherford.
The protection awarded to many during the last surge of the omicron variant is fading at this point, he said.
"And as we get to the end of our window from naturally acquired immunity from infection in December and January, that's starting to wane now," he said.
The mandate only applies for city workers in city facilities, a small step as the Bay Area continues to grapple with the spread of the new variants.
Other counties may follow suit, after many dropped various precautions in recent months and are now seeing an uptick in cases once again.
"It's a balancing act," he said. "You have to trust your county health departments to get it right."
Decisions will likely rely on each region's level of case numbers and vaccination rates.
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