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Riverside County public health officials on Wednesday are recommending people wear masks indoors, even for those who are vaccinated.
The same announcement came earlier Wednesday from the California Department of Public Health and Tuesday from the Centers for Disease Control.
The city of Palm Springs was quick to follow suit, recommending universal indoor masking as well.
As cases climb, some in the valley have said they agree to keep their masks on, while others have said it should be their right to decide.
“I am not forcing people to do anything that is mandatory,” said Nefi Arce. “I’m just not for that.”
“I don’t really mind so I will continue to wear it,” Samuel Gomez said.
While not a requirement, guidance has come from the federal, state, and now county levels.
“We recommend it because we believe it will stop the spread of the virus,” said Jose Arballo of Riverside County Public Health.
“If you’ve been vaccinated before and are outside, don’t wear a mask,” said Sharon Jones. “If you’re inside, maybe wear your mask.”
The CDC has released its new guidelines for everyone in areas of high transmission to wear a face mask indoors, regardless of vaccination status.
The tracker on Wednesday showed Riverside County falls into the “high transmission” category.
At 849 in Palm Springs, owner Willie Rhine hoped to lead by example by requiring his staff to wear masks starting last week.
“We knew it was going to be a busy weekend and every weekend gets more and more busy,” Rhine said. “We decided we wanted to ensure the safety of our staff.”
As concern grows over the highly transmissible Delta variant and new protective measures begin to wane, Rhine said he hopes to stay ahead of the game and prevent another lockdown.
“We have an extremely busy fall ahead and my worst fear is that we will go back to lockdown,” he said.
Officials at all levels hope people take the simple step of wearing a mask – to keep the worst of the pandemic behind us.
“As long as we still have Covid, it’s just to help people,” Gomez said. “It’s nothing wrong.”
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