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Last week, the San Francisco and Marin counties public health departments announced changes to the requirements for COVID-19 face masks in indoor environments. On Friday, the softened mandates came into effect.
In both counties, an exemption allows people to remove their masks in certain indoor environments where stable groups of fully vaccinated people congregate. Think of these places as places where the same group of people meet over and over again, like yoga classes or offices.
These places include offices, gymnasiums, fitness centers, employee commuter vehicles, religious gatherings, college courses and other indoor gatherings, not exceeding 100 people.
The employer, or the host of indoor gatherings, is responsible for controlling access and ensuring that everyone present is fully immunized. They must also ensure good ventilation, no recent outbreaks of COVID-19 and that guests and children under 12 are not present, among other safety measures, the counties said.
The new exemption does not apply to indoor public places such as retail stores, bars and restaurants or other business premises open to the public. People can continue to temporarily remove their masks in restaurants and bars to eat or drink.
San Francisco specifically noted that masks are still required in “shared interior areas such as common areas of a building, [including] elevators, lobbies and toilets, where people from different work environments could interact. “
- For more information on SF’s revised mandate, visit sfmayor.org.
- For more details on Marin’s softened tenure, visit marincounty.org.
When will SF and Marin and other Bay Area counties lift the indoor mask mandate completely?
Last week, San Francisco and Marin – along with six other Bay Area counties including Alameda, Santa Clara, San Mateo, Contra Costa, Marin, Sonoma and Napa – also presented three criteria for the full waiver of warrants. mask.
First, a county must meet the “moderate” (yellow) case rates, as determined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data tracker, and stay there for three weeks. Marin is the only county in the state in the yellow level; he switched to this low risk position two days ago.
Second, the county health official must determine that COVID-19-related hospitalizations are “low and stable.”
Finally, 80% of a county’s total population must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19, or eight weeks after a COVID-19 vaccine has been cleared for children aged 5 to 11. From Thursday, 75% of the population of San Francisco and 81% of the population of Marin is fully vaccinated.
Marin is the only county in the Bay Area that is close to meeting the criteria for lifting the mask’s mandate. “We want to see fewer people hospitalized with COVID-19 before we lift the warrant,” said Dr Matt Willis, county health director. “Last week there were 15 total hospitalizations for COVID-19 in Marin. So we defined that as a measure – we will want to see less than 15 people in hospital for COVID-19 before we lift the warrant.”
While Marin’s move to yellow level is promising, he must remain at that level for 21 consecutive days. “Three consecutive weeks in yellow will mean that we have maintained less than 18 new cases per day on average,” Willis explained. “It’s one of the lowest rates in the state, and California’s rates are the lowest in the country. We’re in a good position to lift the restrictions. We’ve talked about following the science as we impose new restrictions and the local warrant mask helped control Wave Four. As we emerged from lockdown in the past, we have seen evidence that we can safely lift restrictions when conditions allow. With over 90 % of our eligible community fully vaccinated, we have gained another margin of normality. “
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Sources 2/ https://www.sfgate.com/coronavirus/article/San-Francisco-Marin-mask-mandate-requirements-16533334.php The mention sources can contact us to remove/changing this article |
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