SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – There will soon be no remaining mask mandates in the Bay Area, as the only county in the region to require mask indoors amid a spring COVID-19 surge will no longer do so beginning on Saturday.
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Alameda County public health officials announced on Friday that residents will no longer need to wear masks in public indoor spaces just after midnight on Saturday.
The public health department said in a release that cases had peaked and case rates were improving across ethnic and racial groups, including among Hispanic and Latino residents who had the highest reported case rates just a few weeks ago.
"Conditions have stabilized following the sustained increases in case reports and hospitalizations we saw throughout May," Dr. Nicholas Moss, Alameda County Health Officer, said in a statement on Friday. "While we expect continued impacts from COVID-19 in the coming weeks, and masks remain strongly recommended, it is appropriate to step down ... at this time."
As reported cases – likely undercounted, due to the preponderance of at-home tests – climbed and surpassed last summer's delta variant surge, Alameda County stood alone three weeks ago in bringing back its mask mandate.
Public health officials in a number of Bay Area counties told KCBS Radio they had no plans of requiring masks again, marking a shift from previous surges in which local public health departments were largely unanimous in mandating masks in public indoor spaces.
Alameda County officials felt confident in lifting the requirements again, at least in part, because hospitalizations had stabilized and local wastewater data coincided with the decrease in cases. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention downgraded the county from a "high" level of spread within the community to a "medium" one on Thursday, according to the release.
More than 84% of Alameda County residents have completed their initial coronavirus vaccination series, while 55.3% have received at least one booster dose.
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