The new CDC guidance on indoor masking applies to places with "substantial" or "high" levels of coronavirus transmission.
How does that affect people in the Bay Area?
According to the CDC’s map of COVID-19 case rates, all nine Bay Area counties are in the orange or red categories for substantial or high community transmission. That means the CDC recommends the region’s residents wear masks indoors in public even if they’re vaccinated.
Dr. Yvonne Maldonado, Chief of Infectious Diseases at Lucille Packard Children's hospital, told KCBS Radio that’s the right move given the spread of the highly infectious delta variant.
"I think that it is the right thing to do without extending to a mandate at this time," Maldonado explained.
Though it is less likely, vaccinated people can still be infected with COVID-19.
However, UCSF infectious disease expert Dr. Peter Chin Hong reminded people that it’s overwhelmingly unvaccinated people ending up in hospital.
"At the end of the day, what we are going to see is that there will be people getting COVID just like you get a cold or you get the flu, but if you’re vaccinated, nothing is going to happen," he told KCBS Radio. "I think the focus is really going to be on the unvaccinated population. I know it sounds like a broken record, but time and time and time again, we’re coming back to that simple message."
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