Marin Mask Mandate Could Soon Be Lifted

MARIN COUNTY, CA — Marin's mask mandate remains in place for now, but all indications are that one of America's most vaccinated counties could soon lift the requirement.

Marin on Thursday morning joined eight other Bay Area counties and the city of Berkeley in issuing criteria for lifting mask mandates, and Marin's top health officer is already talking about mask mandates in the past tense.

“The mask requirement played an important role in gaining control the fourth wave,” Marin Health Officer Dr. Matt Willis said in a statement.

“Still, our biggest asset is vaccinations. High vaccination rates will allow us to continue to ease restrictions safely, while providing greater protection for our community.”

Health officers for the nine counties and Berkeley jointly announced that indoor masking requirements in public spaces not subject to state and federal rules will be lifted when the following conditions are met:

• The jurisdiction reaches the moderate (yellow) COVID-19 transmission tier, as defined by the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), and remains there for at least three weeks;
• COVID-19 hospitalizations in the jurisdiction are low and stable, in the judgment of the health officer;
• 80% of the jurisdiction’s total population is fully vaccinated with two doses of Pfizer or Moderna or one dose of Johnson & Johnson (booster doses not considered) OR eight weeks have passed since a COVID-19 vaccine has been authorized for emergency use by federal and state authorities for 5- to 11-year-olds.

The eight Bay Area counties that currently have mask mandates in place have yet to meet the criteria for lifting those orders, but at least one has already announced a partial lifting of indoor masking requirements, The San Francisco Chronicle reports. San Francisco on Aug. 15 will no longer require masks in most indoor settings in which vaccines are required.

Most Bay Area health departments issued the masking requirements Aug. 3 amid a delta-fueled surge.

But with regional data showing the surge is petering out, health officers in one of the nation’s most vaccinated regions agreed to move towards transitioning away from mask mandates.

Lifting a local indoor mask mandate would not prevent indoor venues such as businesses and churches from implementing their own requirements.

The criteria were developed to assist in determining the safest time to lift the indoor masking orders, based on regional scientific and medical consensus.

Vaccines remain the most effective tool in efforts to return to normalcy more than 18 months into the pandemic, Marin Health Officer Dr. Matt Willis said in a statement.

California’s health guidance for the use of face coverings may remain in effect after local masking requirements are lifted, meaning that people who are not fully vaccinated for COVID-19 must continue to wear masks in businesses and indoor public spaces.

The state also requires face coverings for everyone, regardless of vaccination status, in health care facilities, on public transit, and in adult and senior care facilities. California’s masking guidelines in K-12 schools would also not be affected by changes to local health orders.

An FDA advisory committee is scheduled to consider an application from Pfizer-BioNTech to grant emergency use of its COVID-19 vaccine for 5- to 11-year-olds on October 26.

Patch staffer Bea Karnes contributed to this report