Posted on 03/01/2022 4:35:17 PM PST by Enlightened1
CALIFORNIA — Unvaccinated Californians will no longer be required to mask up in indoor public settings, state officials announced Monday. The move marked one of the first attempts to shed sweeping restrictions for unvaccinated residents.
California lifted its indoor mask mandate on Feb. 16 but did not include unvaccinated people. The state had some of the strictest pandemic rules in the nation, but Monday's announcement revoked one of the last mask requirements left in the state.
Ultimately, officials maintained on Monday that it will be up to businesses and counties to set their own masking rules.
Santa Clara County remained one of the only counties to maintain an indoor mask mandate after the state dropped its sweeping mandate on Feb. 16, but it will align with the state on Wednesday, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
The state will drop a masking requirement for children in classrooms on March 12, officials also announced Monday.
Masks will still be required in high-transmission settings such as public transit, emergency shelters, health care settings, correctional facilities, homeless shelters and long-term care facilities.
"The data is trending in the right direction," Dr. Mark Ghaly, the state's health secretary, said in a news conference Monday.
After a devastating winter omicron surge, coronavirus cases have plummeted in California. On Monday, the state's testing positive rate was 2.9 percent, down from 8.8 percent on Feb. 8. Hospitalizations have also declined, from more than 10,000 at the beginning of the month to around 4,233 on Monday.
Last month, California became the first state to formally shift to an endemic approach to the coronavirus with Gov. Gavin Newsom's announcement of a plan that emphasizes prevention and quick reaction to outbreaks over mandated masking and business shutdowns.
"California continues to adjust our policies based on the latest data and science, applying what we've learned over the past two years to guide our response to the pandemic," Newsom said in a joint statement with Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and Oregon Gov. Kate Brown on Monday.
Health officials have argued over the course of the pandemic that unvaccinated Californians were more likely to contract COVID-19 or be hospitalized with it.
More than 8 in 10 California adults have received at least one dose of the vaccine, with 3 in 4 receiving a full dosage, according to the Public Policy Institute of California's February Statewide Survey.
About 12 percent of California adults said they definitely would not receive a coronavirus vaccine, according to PPIC's survey.
Also according to the survey, younger Californians make up a larger share of those who are unvaccinated.
As the omicron crisis fades into the background, worries about infection have diminished among both vaccinated and unvaccinated Californians. Roughly two-thirds of vaccinated Americans said they are somewhat worried about COVID-19 infection. About 4 in 10 unvaccinated Americans said the same, according to a January AP-NORC poll.
"I think it's reasonable and appropriate for people to live their lives a little more as the risk of infection goes down but to do it in a way that recognizes that, at some point, we're going to have another wave," said Dr. David Dowdy, an epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. "And we're going to need to be willing to buckle down just a little bit in the future."
CA sucks
Thank you Putin for ending the pandemic.
But not here in Santa Clara County. Our “health director” Sara Cody announced “stay masked up to eternity.”
I went to Safeway unmasked a few minutes ago. A busybody worker in the deli department said “SIR! Put your mask on.” I ignored him.
GFY, totalitarian medical imperialists.
Article says even Santa Clara is dropping the extra restrictions and aligning with the state guidelines on Wednesday.
The Health Nazi needs to be retired from her position.
I scanned for that and missed it. Thanks for pointing that out. It’s about time! I am SO sick of all the petrified Karens around here.
Follow the science? Nope. Follow the MONEY. 👍
Go ahead, masktards, tell me how it’s “science”!
That was easy. 👍
Between the Canadian Truckers and the Russian invasion.
It was a little too many big fronts for the Swamp to handle.
I don’t know how you can stand being there! I would have throttled someone by now.
It’s not the town I grew up in any more, for sure!
I’m spending all my time out on the trails and doing some great hill work. Losing weight, building muscle, and enjoying the 70 degree sunshine. I just blot all the petrified idiots out of my mind. It just cracks me up that they are good little drones — the day after the “all clear” is sounded, they will emerge from their self-imposed shelters and drop the masks. Well, maybe 90% will. The other 10% are too she’ll shocked to ever take off their talisman. But they have to wait for government t to give that “all clear — it’s safe to come out now.”
My wife stayed in Hayden, but it’s still too cold, wet and dark for me. I’m headed back in a couple of weeks. There were hardly any effects in the CdA area and life went on quite normally. The end results in Idaho and California are about the same.
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