Marin Readies To Mask Up

MARIN COUNTY, CA — Less than two months after Marin lifted the mandate, residents starting Wednesday will once again have to mask up.

Amid a national surge in cases, hospitalizations and deaths in recent weeks and as hyper-contagious omicron rages in other parts of the world, the state issued a new health order Monday requiring mask wearing in indoor settings regardless of vaccination status.

The state’s new health order, which goes into effect Wednesday, supersedes Marin’s Nov. 1 local ordinance lifting mask requirements.

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, The Marin Independent Journal reports.

As of Tuesday, 87.1 percent of all Marin residents have completed their vaccine series and 94.6 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), 98.0 percent of eligible Marin residents have completed their vaccine series and 90.4 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.