Although most Bay Area counties are still a long way from achieving their own mask waiver standards, as of Friday, individuals vaccinated will no longer require face masks in some indoor locations in San Francisco and Marin Counties.
And Contra Costa County plans to join them in November. 1. The partial waiver in these areas applies to fitness studios, fitness centers, office facilities, commuter vehicles, religious gatherings and college classes with no more than 100 people, all of which are verifiably vaccinated. This means that there are no children under the age of 12 who still have to be shot – everyone should still wear a mask for indoor areas with children.
“This will allow vaccinated people to safely remove their masks in the office and when exercising in the gym,” said Dr. Chris Farnitano this Thursday. “Of course, people in these areas can still wear a mask if they think they are more comfortable.”
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The limited relaxation of the mask rule is a welcome change for San Francisco MX3 Fitness owner Glenn Shope.
“It’s definitely useful because it’s easier to do high-intensity things without a mask,” said Shope. “It requires the job of gym owners and coaches to keep implementing mask protocols and reminding people to put the mask on their nose and mouth, put them back on after drinking, and rehydrate. It also signals to our members that it is safe. ” Enter a gym again. ”
The limited changes to the mask rule came despite most of the Bay Area counties failing to meet the thresholds they set last week to allow people who were heavily vaccinated in most indoor public spaces, including grocery and retail stores, as well as restaurants and Bars that can lose masks if they don’t eat or drink.
According to these standards, which eight of the provincial health officials agree to, indoor mask requirements for vaccinated people could decrease after three weeks of the provincial COVID-19 delivery rate, which has hit the yellow “medium” level set by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention . At least 80% of the province’s total population must also be fully vaccinated and hospital rates must remain low and stable.
Of the nine provinces in the Bay Area, only Marin appears to come close to these standards. It hit the CDC’s average delivery rate on Wednesday and set it on the move to overturn the entire inner mask rule for the next month if it stays there. The number of hospitals is small and 77.4% of the county’s population are fully vaccinated, the CDC said, the highest rate in the Bay Area.
Most of the rest of the Bay Area counties are in the CDC’s orange “significant” broadcast level, while the Napa rate remains at the red “high” level. Solano County didn’t join others in imposing their own internal mask requirements in August.
San Francisco initially announced a slight lifting of the mask requirement. When asked why Santa Clara County isn’t planning similar exemptions, health officer Dr. Sara Cody that San Francisco has the required vaccination record to enter restaurants, bars, gyms, clubs, large indoor events, or other indoor areas that serve food and drinks, and Santa Clara County does not.
“We have always tried to have guidelines here in Santa Clara County that are as simple as possible and as simple as possible for the public,” Cody said last week.
In the provinces of Marin and Contra Costa, however, there are no vaccination regulations like in San Francisco. But district officials in Santa Clara, Alameda, San Mateo and Sonoma said Thursday they had no plans to allow mask exemptions in San Francisco, Marin and Contra Costa. Napa County officials did not respond.
“Our case and hospitalization rate is too high and our vaccination rate is currently too low to remove the mask mandate, and we are headed for a potentially bad winter season,” said Sonoma County spokesman Matt Brown.
The internal mask exemptions allowed on Friday do not apply in places such as restaurants and bars, except while community members are eating and drinking, even in San Francisco, where entry is required. After being criticized last month for dancing in a city bar without a mask, the Mayor of San Francisco reiterated London Breed that he would not return his mask immediately after taking a sip to the “funny cop” to satisfy.
Transmission rates have been falling since August when a wave of summer infections broke out, fueled by the highly contagious Delta variant of the virus, thanks to a combination of increased immunity from vaccination or recovery from COVID-19 and increased measures to control the spread than after that Mask rule.
However, the virus remains active. Most US states remain at high CDC delivery levels, with only California, Florida, Alabama, Hawaii, and Connecticut achieving moderate rates.
State health officials said in May and June that vaccinated people will no longer need to wear masks indoors, which proved to be an early reopening of the directive that failed to teach the delta’s growing threat. While those vaccinated are more likely to be infected, hospitalized, or killed with the virus, the CDC admitted over the summer that they could still capture and spread it, and advised even those with syringes to wear masks when delivery rates are high or high.
California recommends inner masks for everyone, and eight Bay Area counties placed an order in early August.
Even if local ordinances are dropped, federal and state regulations still require masks to be worn regardless of vaccinations on public transportation, K-12 school buildings, homeless shelters, and health, elderly care and correctional facilities. Government orders require the discontented to wear masks in indoor spaces such as retail stores, cinemas, family entertainment centers, and government buildings.
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