CA Recommends Masks Inside In Santa Cruz Co. Despite CDC Guidance

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY, CA — Though state and county public health officials recommended everyone wear masks indoors regardless of vaccination status, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stopped short of making the same call for Santa Cruz County.

The CDC updated its guidelines for fully vaccinated Americans Tuesday as the highly transmissible delta variant continues to fuel a rise in new COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in California and across the nation. The CDC's new mask guidance called for fully vaccinated people to wear masks indoors in areas where COVID-19 transmission rates have been identified as "substantial" or "high" by federal health officials.

The state followed suit Wednesday and recommended all Californians wear masks indoors. Santa Cruz County was one of just a handful of California's 58 counties spared from the CDC's recommendation, including neighboring Central Coast counties of Monterey and San Luis Obispo.

"The delta variant has caused a sharp increase in hospitalizations and case rates across the state," CDPH Director and state Public Health Officer Dr. Tomas Aragon in a statement. "We are recommending masking in indoor public places to slow the spread while we continue efforts to get more Californians vaccinated."

Community transmission rates are currently designated as "moderate" in Santa Cruz County, though the entire nine-county Bay Area is covered by the CDC's masking recommendations.

Still, the CDC said that people who live in areas where transmission rates have been designated as "low" or "moderate" may choose to wear a mask indoors, particularly if they or someone in their home is immunocompromised, at higher risk of serious COVID-19 complications or not fully vaccinated.

The CDC also recommended that fully vaccinated Americans get a COVID-19 test three to five days after being exposed to someone who has tested positive and wear a mask when indoors when in public for the next 14 days or until they receive a negative result. Indoor masking is recommended for all teachers, staff, students and visitors to schools, and fully vaccinated people, the CDC said.

The CDC maintained that outdoor activities pose minimal risk to those who are fully vaccinated, and most indoor activities are low-risk to fully vaccinated people, especially if they live in areas where transmission rates have been designated as "low" or "moderate."

The threat of the delta variant has prompted many Golden State health officials to reconsider earlier guidelines that gave fully vaccinated people the all-clear to go maskless indoors. Los Angeles County requires indoor masks for all, and Bay Area health officials issued similar recommendations in the days that followed.

Newsom announced Monday that the state saw a 16 percent week-over-week increase in people getting their first vaccine dose or the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine. About 75 percent of eligible Californians have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose. That's more than any other state.

Still, California officials continued to push for vaccination amid the threat of the delta variant and others that might loom.

Newsom likened the one in four Californians who have balked at the vaccine to drunk drivers whose choice has affected the entire state in a "profound, devastating and deadly way," he said. Those decisions affect businesses and in-person learning as the delta variant spreads.

"The Delta variant is up to 60 percent more infectious than the Alpha strain but many times more infectious than the original COVID-19 strain," said Dr. Mark Ghaly, secretary of the state's Health and Human Services agency, in a statement Monday. "If you have been waiting to get vaccinated, now is the time."

Learn how to sign up for a COVID-19 vaccine in Santa Cruz County.