When will California make face masks mandatory? – Orange County Register

Students in California will have to wait until the end of the month to find out when they can attend classes without wearing masks, even if the state requires them to be worn in stores, businesses and many other places. Other public places aim to keep COVID-19 testing rates up for the unvaccinated on Wednesday.

Undersecretary of Health and Human Services, Dr. Mark Ghaly, said Monday that California is not ready to make a decision on whether to lift the statewide school mask requirement that has been in place since summer. last year, but will reassess on February 28 after reviewing cases, hospitalizations and vaccinations.

“Mask requirements were never set to last forever – it is not a matter of if, but when,” said California Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly. “Parents shouldn’t hear that we’re not taking the move – we’re taking a little extra time to review the information to make sure when we’re making the move we’re doing it successfully with the The community is empowered to be safe.”

Ghaly said that the state will make the decision to lift the statewide mask requirement in schools based on a variety of factors – cases, positive tests, vaccinations, general hospitalizations and for children – but refuses to cite specific figures for any case. And even if those metrics are met by February 28, he said the school mask regulation won’t be lifted soon after.

“It’s definitely going to take a while for schools and public health leaders to prepare, for families to prepare,” Ghaly said. “So it’s not a decision for the next day or the next day.”

The future mask policy change comes as COVID-19 transmission rates drop sharply from their peak in the winter of January due to the highly contagious omicron variant, but remain high in California and around the world. country, even as public patience with the pandemic’s orders dwindles. Tens of thousands of nearly completely maskless soccer fans reveled Sunday during Super Bowl LVI at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles County despite mask requirements.

Last week, state health officials confirmed that California’s general indoor mask requirement, which was in place on December 15 when the omicron spike occurred and lasted last month, will end ends as planned starting Wednesday morning. But that doesn’t include the statewide mask requirement in schools.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continues recommends wearing a mask indoors common in K-12 schools irrespective of immunization status for all adults and children 2 years of age and older, including staff, teachers and visitors.

More generally, the CDC recommends that even people who have been vaccinated and boosted wear face masks indoors in public areas with high or significant levels of transmission of COVID-19 — no more than 50 new cases. more than 100,000 people and less than 8% tested positive for the virus. in the past seven days.

Currently, every state and nearly every county across California and the US has a high transmission rate CDC showing 100 or more cases per 100,000 people and 10% or more testing positive in seven past day. California’s transmission rate is almost five times that high threshold.