Health officials in the Bay Area today urged residents to wear masks indoors — even if they’re fully vaccinated — but are not requiring them.
They say that while the vaccine is effective, they want to protect unvaccinated people from Covid and its Delta variant.
As of today, California’s rate of new cases per 100,000 residents sits at 5.4.
The officials from county health departments, including those in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties, said they were making the mask recommendation “out of an abundance of caution” but have yet to issue a new masking mandate for shared indoor spaces like grocery and retail stores.
Employees are encouraged to continue following the masking guidelines set by the Cal/OSHA and their employers. They are also encouraged to wear a mask indoors when their employers has not verified the vaccination status of their co-workers.
The recommendation comes on the heels of Los Angeles County issuing a new mask mandate for indoor spaces this week amid an increase in Covid-19 cases, almost exclusively among the unvaccinated, and the proliferation of the more-transmissible delta variant.
“The Delta variant is spreading quickly, and everyone should take action to protect themselves and others against this potentially deadly virus,” Alameda County Health Officer Dr. Nicholas Moss said in a statement.
While the Bay Area is one of the most vaccinated regions in the state and country, local health officials had recognized the potential for renewed mask requirements in recent weeks as the Delta variant became more of a threat, particularly for unvaccinated people.
“The Bay Area is very, very diverse and there’s hot spots, within the Bay Area, of unvaccinated populations,” Marin County Deputy Health Officer Dr. Lisa Santora said earlier this month. “So we would expect to see, especially in more rural areas (and) consistent with other rural areas across the nation, that you’ll see increased rates of cases.”
The indoor masking recommendation is intended to help protect unvaccinated residents, who are orders of magnitude more likely right now to contract the virus and be hospitalized with serious illness, the county health officials said in a joint statement.
Today, CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky went as far as to say the virus “is becoming a pandemic of the unvaccinated.”
State officials have also been hesitant, for now, to re-issue mask and social distancing requirements statewide, instead deferring to local health agencies to do what they feel suits their constituents. — Bay City News
5.4 hospitalizations per 100,000
That’s 0.5 per 1 million
Odds of being struck by lightning in an 80-year lifetime: 1 in 15,300
Looks like Dr Cody is going back to the scare tactics she pushed for the past year.
That would be 54 per million!
Wow!!! Really, that’s 2,100 in a population of 39 million! That’s minuscule!!!!! More scare and fear! The science says the masks DONT stop the virus, yet they continue the lie! Anyone mandating masks for children should be arrested for child abuse!
That’ equals 2,100 for 39,000,000 genius! Minuscule!
Masks don’t stop the virus per the actual science per the WHO!
Simple fear mongering for more control. Dr. Cody needs to goad she’s done enough to damage our County’s health and businesses!
https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/30/world/coronavirus-who-masks-recommendation-trnd/index.html
You gotta multiply by maybe 160, because Delta variant risk will be spread over 6 months, not 80 years. Also, 5.4 per 100000 is the *current* rate, not the peak rate over the next 6 months, if Delta is not contained.
The unvaccinated have made a conscious choice to not get the free and safe vaccine. Let them live (or die) with the consequences. We can’t keep pandering to people that refuse modern medicine.
The vaccines are NOT approved vaccines, only experimental emergency authorized vaccines. Everyone should choose to vaccinate or not depending on their own risk analysis. Those that wish their deaths are feeble minded pathetic sheep.
@fmd Who is fear mongering now?
The next order will be that everyone shall wear their underwear outside their clothes so that we can check to ensure they are clean. (See Woody Allen’s Bananas
“The recommendation comes on the heels of Los Angeles County issuing a new mask mandate for indoor spaces this week” The Los Angeles county sheriff is refusing to enforce the mandate. He says it’s not based on science and is counter to CDC guidelines. I wish our useless Santa Clara county sheriff would show this common sense. Instead she spends her time selling concealed carry permits.
Judge for yourself by looking at the source: the VAERS site does not report that thousands of deaths were “due to” or “from” the COVID-19 vaccine. To the contrary, doctors are “required” to report any death after a vaccination, whether or not caused by the shot. Doing its job to analyze the broad data coming on all medications to make an early detection of risks, VAERS has not established a causal link to deaths and the vaccine, but does call out the blood clotting issue that has confirmed reports from 39 people:
“Reports of death after COVID-19 vaccination are rare. More than 339 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines were administered in the United States from December 14, 2020, through July 19, 2021. During this time, VAERS received 6,207 reports of death (0.0018%) among people who received a COVID-19 vaccine. FDA requires healthcare providers to report any death after COVID-19 vaccination to VAERS, even if it’s unclear whether the vaccine was the cause. Reports of adverse events to VAERS following vaccination, including deaths, do not necessarily mean that a vaccine caused a health problem. A review of available clinical information, including death certificates, autopsy, and medical records, has not established a causal link to COVID-19 vaccines. However, recent reports indicate a plausible causal relationship between the J&J/Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine and TTS, a rare and serious adverse event—blood clots with low platelets—which has caused deaths. See https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/safety/adverse-events.html
San Mateo County is 90% vaccinated. Why a mask mandate? Why the fear? We are at herd immunity, at least at a point that we no longer need to worry about overwhelming our hospitals. Fear is winning. San Mateo County, stand up! Do not be afraid!
The unvaccinated choose their path- as they should have the legal, moral right to do so. They too have weighed the risks, and found they prefer to be unvacvinated. This does NOT harm us as a community as we have reached herd immunity. There will be minimal cases, and the vaccinated need not fear anymore. We are more likely to die in a car accident at this point!