Mask Mandate On Track To Be Lifted Next Week In Santa Clara Co.

SANTA CLARA COUNTY, CA — Santa Clara County is expected to lift its indoor masking requirement next Wednesday if new COVID-19 cases remain stable.

Santa Clara County was the only Bay Area county to not follow the state’s lifting of its indoor masking mandate for vaccinated people on Feb. 16, instead choosing to wait until it met the last of three specific metrics.

As of Wednesday, the county met that metric for the first time — the seven-day rolling average of new cases dropping to 501 cases. If the seven-day average remains at 550 or lower for the next week, the mask mandate will be lifted Mar. 2.

“We are on track and given the steady decline in cases that we are continuing to see, I’m fairly confident that we will be able to lift the masking requirement on Mar. 2,” Santa Clara County Public Health Officer Dr. Sara Cody said at a news briefing.

The other two metrics — at least 80 percent of the county population vaccinated and COVID-19 hospitalizations at a “low and stable” number — have been met, county officials said.

"I think our community has shown tremendous concern for each other by vaccinating and masking, and that has given us a level of safety and protection that will be durable," Cody said. "I look forward to the day where we can all comfortably take off our masks inside."

County officials still encouraged people to wear masks indoors in public spaces regardless of vaccination status.

“The data that we are following looks very encouraging,” Cody said. “I feel confident that we are headed into a period of a lull or a valley in between the peaks that we see.”

Cody prefaced her briefing by acknowledging Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“It does feel a little bit odd to be talking about masking in the context of these unthinkable events that have unfolded,” Cody said.