Coronavirus: California orders statewide indoor mask requirement
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – California residents will be required to wear masks indoors in public places for one month beginning Wednesday, health officials announced.
California Health and Human Services Secretary Mark Ghaly said the mandate will affect about 50% of state residents who are not currently under a county-level mask mandate, The Sacramento Bee reported.
The move comes as COVID-19 rates in California have risen by 50% in the last 2½ weeks, according to the Los Angeles Times. It also comes after state officials reported an increase of the omicron variant, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. As of Friday, 18 cases of the variant had been reported statewide as of Friday, the newspaper reported.
Before Thanksgiving, the state was experiencing roughly 9.6 cases per 100,000 residents per day, that number is now 14 cases per 100,000, he said.
Many counties already have their own local masking rules, according to The Bee. In addition to masking, the state will now require those without proof of vaccination attending events with more than 1,000 people to show proof of a negative COVID-19 test within one day. Previous guidelines required a test within 72 hours.
Health officials will also recommend that travelers returning to California get tested three to five days after arrival, the Chronicle reported.
“We know people are tired and hungry for normalcy. Frankly, I am too,” Ghaly said at a news conference Monday. “That said, this is a critical time where we have a tool that we know has worked. We are proactively putting this tool of universal indoor masking in public settings in place to ensure we get through a time of joy and hope without a darker cloud of concern and despair.
“Californians have done this before. And we of course believe we can do it again.”
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