Alameda Co. Snags Mask Mandate Exemptions

ALAMEDA COUNTY, CA – State officials on Tuesday announced that Alameda County gyms and businesses that require proof of vaccinations will be exempt from a new mask mandate.

The about-face followed Monday’s California Department of Public Health announcement that the state was reinstating a mask mandate for indoor settings regardless of vaccination status.

Alameda is among four counties that got the exemption. San Francisco, Marin and Contra Costa are the others.

“For local health jurisdictions that had pre-existing masking requirements irrespective of vaccine status, in indoor public settings, prior to December 13, 2021, those local health orders continue to apply,” the state’s revised health order says.

The state’s reinstatement of the mask mandate comes amid a delta-fueled national surge in cases, hospitalizations and deaths in recent weeks and worries over hyper-contagious omicron, which is rages in other parts of the world.

The state's new health order would have superseded Marin's ordinance before the exemptions were announced. Marin lifted its mask mandate on Nov. 1.

Despite a high vaccination rate, California hasn't been impervious to the recent COVID-19 case surge.

Since Thanksgiving, cases statewide have risen 47 percent and hospitalizations by 14 percent, according to the state's Department of Public Health.

"In response to the increase in cases and hospitalizations, and to slow the spread of both delta and the highly transmissible omicron variant, CDPH has issued updated guidance to curb the spread of COVID-19 and its variants," the agency said in a statement.

The state's new health order also includes a recommendation that travelers arriving in California be tested three to five days after arrival, regardless of vaccination status, and that testing requirement for indoor "mega events" be within one day for rapid (antigen) tests and two days for PCR tests.

"This mandate is not being written for highly vaccinated communities like Marin, as much as it is for places that are struggling much more with lower vaccinations rates, higher case rates and surging hospitalizations," Marin Health Officer Dr. Matt Willis said Monday, before the revisions were announced, The Marin Independent Journal reports.

As of Wednesday, 87.4 percent of all Marin residents have completed their vaccine series and 94.8 percent of county residents have received at least one jab, according to the county's vaccination dashboard.

Among Marin's eligible population (ages 5 and over), 90.7 percent of eligible Marin residents have completed their vaccine series and 98.0 percent of county residents have gotten at least one shot.

Marin tops the state with the highest vaccination rate and the North Bay county ranks among the nation's top 10 in that department among all counties (regardless of population), The New York Times reports.

Marin was the nation's most vaccinated county among those with a population over 250,000, according to data compiled earlier this year by The San Francisco Chronicle.