Want To Avoid A Mask Mandate In Santa Cruz Co.? Get Vaccinated

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY, CA — Santa Cruz County's health care system is near capacity, and should that strain worsen, officials said they will consider a mask mandate or other restrictions.

To avoid that, officials continued to urge vaccination, masking indoors and in crowded outdoor areas, staying home when sick and getting tested when exposed to the coronavirus.

Vaccinated people were six times less likely to get infected, 10 times less likely to be hospitalized and 16 times less likely to die from infection, said Dr. David Ghilarducci, county Emergency Medical Services medical director at a Thursday afternoon news conference.

The county is wrestling with new challenges.

For one, a significant number of health care workers are out on leave as they grapple with burnout or take time off for well-deserved rest or to handle personal matters, said County Health Officer Dr. Gail Newel.

"We're tired, and we don't have the capacity to do everything that we have to do," said county Health Services Agency Director Mimi Hall.

As staff dwindles at local health care facilities — a reduction of up to 20 percent, by one estimate cited by Newel — hospitals remain packed with patients. Facilities are no longer dealing with an influx of COVID-19 patients, but rather with patients dealing with issues from delaying health care visits during the pandemic, Newel said.

Newel said she believes the majority of residents in Santa Cruz County — where the county has recommended that residents mask up in public, regardless of vaccination status — "are doing the right thing" to protect the community and their families. She said she doesn't want to deal with the "distraction" of enforcing a potential mask mandate.

It's not totally clear whether data shows mask mandates make a difference, though Los Angeles County believed its mandate helped stabilize hospital admissions, she said. The same people who don't wear masks indoors now probably wouldn't wear masks if a mandate were issued, she said.

Latino and South County residents were hit hardest early in the pandemic, but the highly transmissible delta variant is disproportionately hitting white and North County residents now, Newel said. Cases were once spread primarily through interpersonal contact but are now most commonly spread through community transmission, meaning patients were sickened in the community and are unable to pinpoint how it happened.

Daily case rates have more than doubled, and the current surge could peak at the end of August or early September before tapering off in mid-October, she said. Modeling predicted a sharp increase of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in Santa Cruz County.

New patients here are less likely to be vaccinated, wear masks or maintain social distancing and tend to be more socially active people in the 25- to 50-year-old group.

"The delta variant is here," Newel said. "It's time to be vaccinated if you have not already been vaccinated."

Many of those in Santa Cruz County have been inoculated. Nearly seven in 10 residents have received a COVID-19 vaccine, while the same is true for nearly eight in 10 eligible residents.

"These are decent numbers, but not good enough," Ghilarducci said.

The delta variant has raised the bar, he said. Every new COVID-19 death is essentially a preventable one.

"This is really a collective effort," Ghilarducci said. "It's not just a personal choice; you're making a choice about everybody else around you."

Get a COVID-19 vaccine in Santa Cruz County.