Contra Costa County will again require everyone — vaccinated or not — to wear masks indoors at all times as COVID-19 cases and hospitalization rates begin to soar.
Only a month ago, amid a decline of COVID cases, the county eased up on its mask rules by allowing fully vaccinated groups of 100 or fewer people to remove their masks in “controlled spaces” such as workplaces and gyms.
And earlier, in September, the county had begun allowing public speakers and performers to go without masks where they and everyone else were fully inoculated.
But the rapid spread of the omicron variant has forced the county to switch course once more. Studies so far have shown that omicron is even more contagious than the delta variant that preceded it, though possibly not as harmful.
In addition to unvaccinated people, the variant seems to more easily infect those who have received two vaccine doses. Health officials identified the county’s first omicron cases on Dec. 18.
California renewed its own order earlier this month by requiring everyone from toddlers on up to wear face masks in all indoor public settings, but allowed Contra Costa, Alameda and San Francisco counties to keep the mask rules they previously set for vaccinated residents.
“The omicron variant is very contagious, and we now know that anyone, regardless of vaccination status, can spread this variant to other people,” Dr. Ori Tzvieli, the county’s deputy health officer, said in a press release. “We anticipate the case rate and hospitalization numbers to increase over the coming weeks. To reduce spread, cases and hospitalizations, we all need to wear masks anytime we are in an indoor public setting.”
With only 36% of its residents having received booster shots as of Monday, the county also announced this week it will begin requiring first responders and others in high-risk jobs to get their boosters by Jan. 10 or submit to weekly tests.
The county’s COVID-19 cases have spiked since Dec. 18, going from a daily seven-day case rate of 159.4 to an average of 379.7 cases on Sunday, according to data provided by the health department.
There currently are 52 people hospitalized with COVID-19 in the county and 12 in the ICU. The vast majority are unvaccinated residents, according to county health data.
Source: www.mercurynews.com