Contra Costa County will become the third Bay Area county to ease its public indoor mask restrictions this fall.
Much like San Francisco and Marin County, Contra Costa County on Thursday announced it will soon no longer require masks in certain indoor settings where everyone is fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Beginning Nov. 1, people in "controlled spaces not open to the general public," like gyms, offices, indoor college classes and religious gatherings in the county won't need to wear masks.
Bars, restaurants, retail settings and schools will still require masks until Contra Costa County hits other criteria.
"This will allow vaccinated people to feel safe removing their masks at the office and when they're working out at the gym," Dr. Chris Farnitano, Contra Costa County Health Officer, said in a release on Thursday. "Of course, people in these places can keep wearing masks if that makes them feel more comfortable."
Contra Costa County officials said the county had fully vaccinated 71.6% of its residents as of Thursday. The county continues to experience “substantial” COVID-19 transmission, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, meaning it has averaged between 50 and 100 new cases per day over the last week.
Under the criteria Contra Costa County, seven other Bay Area counties and the City of Berkeley agreed to earlier this month, a jurisdiction can fully lift its indoor mask mandate when it has “moderate” transmission for at least three weeks, low hospitalizations and 80% of its population fully vaccinated. If a jurisdiction doesn’t fully vaccinate 80% of its population, it can wait until eight weeks after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration provides an Emergency Use Authorization for children aged 5-11 to take the COVID-19 vaccine.
If the vaccine is approved in the last week of October, the earliest Contra Costa County could lift its mask mandate under that condition is at the end of December.
"We're in a safer place than we were two months ago," Farnitano said. "My hope is that two months from now vaccinated people won't have to wear masks in other places like restaurants, bars and retail stores. The way we get there is for those who remain unvaccinated to get immunized."
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