El Cerrito To See Mask Requirements Loosen

EL CERRITO, CA — Fully vaccinated people will soon be able to ditch their masks in select indoor spaces in Contra Costa County including El Cerrito.

The updated mask rules will apply to places that are not open to the public in which no more than 100 people are present at the same time including offices, gyms, college classrooms and religious gatherings, Contra Costa County Health Services announced Thursday.

The new rules go into effect. Nov. 1.

They will not apply to places open to the public, such as bars, restaurants, K-12 schools and retail stores.

"This will allow vaccinated people to feel safe removing their masks at the office and when they're working out at the gym," said Dr. Chris Farnitano, health officer for Contra Costa County, in a statement. "Of course, people in these places can keep wearing masks if that makes them feel more comfortable."

Hosts, businesses and organizations must verify that everyone in a room is vaccinated, according to the county. Guests must also be free of COVID-19 symptoms.

Regionally and across the country, cases and hospitalizations have fallen as vaccination rates have increased.

This week, county health officials announced that unmasked indoor New Year's Eve celebrations may be possible if current trends continue and three goals are met.

1. The jurisdiction reaches the moderate (yellow) COVID-19 transmission tier, as defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and remains there for at least three weeks.
2. COVID-19 hospitalizations in the jurisdiction are low and stable, in the judgment of the health officer.
3. One of the following applies:

• Some 80 percent of the jurisdiction's total population is fully vaccinated with two doses of Pfizer or Moderna vaccines or one dose of Johnson & Johnson vaccines. (Booster shots are not considered.)
• Eight weeks have passed since a COVID-19 vaccine was authorized for emergency use by federal and state authorities for 5- to 11-year-olds.

Currently, Contra Costa County is in the orange tier, which indicates substantial COVID-19 spread. That's one tier above yellow.

"If current data trends continue, Contra Costa may enter the yellow tier of transmission as soon as the end of this month and may meet all the criteria by December or early January," Farnitano told the board.

In Contra Costa County, 71.6 percent of the county's total population has been fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Among those currently eligible for vaccination — those age 12 and older — 82.4 percent are fully vaccinated.

As of Thursday, only Marin County has fully vaccinated more than 80 percent of its total population.

Contra Costa County is the third Bay Area county to make partial changes to its indoor mask requirements, joining Marin County and San Francisco. Public health officials in all three counties have pointed to declining COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations as evidence that it is safe to remove masking requirements in some settings.

— Bay City News and Patch Editors Courtney Teague and Bea Karnes contributed to this report