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Marin could lift the mandate for indoor masks for vaccinated residents by early to mid-November if the county’s COVID-19 case rate continues to decline, the public health official said on Thursday.
Marin must enter and stay in the yellow – or moderate – transmission rate for three weeks before a rule change, said Dr Matt Willis, referring to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s color-coding system.
“We’re not there yet,” he said. “We are still in the low orange transmission rate – or substantial – according to the CDC. “
Willis said the county is expected to have on average less than 18 new cases per day. The county registers 20 cases a day, but that is decreasing, he said.
Marin could move to the yellow level by next week if the downtrend continues, he said.
“We need to stay at the lowest rate for three weeks to ensure that the transmission of the virus is reliably controlled,” Willis said.
Even if Marin lifts the indoor mask mandate for vaccinated residents, unvaccinated people should still wear a mask in indoor public places under state public health orders, Willis said.
The new mask stance was jointly announced Thursday by Marin County and eight other jurisdictions: Alameda, Contra Costa, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara and Sonoma counties, and Berkeley, which has its own public health service.
The low stable transmission rate is the main measure of the lifting of the indoor mask mandate, the courts have said. A second criterion is that hospitalizations related to COVID-19 are “low and stable”.
The third is that 80% of the population in the jurisdiction is fully vaccinated with two doses of Pfizer or Moderna or one dose of Johnson & Johnson – or eight weeks have passed since a vaccine was cleared for use in emergency by federal and state authorities for 5 – up to 11 years.
Willis said Marin has met or is on track to meet the other two criteria.
“We just hit the 80% vaccination rate yesterday,” Willis said Thursday. “When we talk about collective immunity, it is important to include everyone.”
The 80% rate includes children under 12, all of whom are unvaccinated. Marin’s full vaccination rate for residents 12 and older was 91.9% on Thursday.
Willis said the county plans to offer vaccines to children under 12 as soon as they become available, possibly by the end of this month.
An FDA advisory committee is expected to consider a request from Pfizer-BioNTech to authorize emergency use of its COVID-19 vaccine for children aged 5 to 11 on October 26.
“Our goal is to immunize 15,000 of our 20,000 children in the first month,” said Willis.
As for the criterion of hospitalization, the department has constantly maintained a low rate in recent months.
“I have no doubts that we will meet this standard,” said Willis.
If the indoor mask mandate is lifted, it will not apply to Marin’s K-12 schools, Willis added. It would also not apply to unvaccinated people, who would still be required to wear masks inside shops, restaurants and gyms.
“He has a very narrow focus,” Willis said of the plan announced Thursday.
He said mask warrants would still be in the toolbox if needed.
“The mask requirement played an important role in the takeover of Wave Four,” he said. “Yet our greatest asset is vaccinations. High vaccination rates will allow us to continue to safely relax restrictions while providing better protection for our community. “
Bay Area health workers said each of the nine jurisdictions would have to create their own timeline to lift the warrant based on when they were able to comply with the three measures.
“Most of the Bay Area health departments issued masking requirements for their respective jurisdictions on August 3, following a summer increase in cases, hospitalizations and deaths,” said Laine Hendricks, Marin County spokesperson. “But with regional data showing the tide is reversing, and with the Bay Area one of the most vaccinated regions in the country, health workers agree it’s time to plan for a transition.”
“Lifting a local indoor mask mandate would not prevent businesses, nonprofits, churches or others with public indoor spaces from imposing their own demands,” Hendricks said. “As COVID-19 easily spreads through airborne droplets, face coverings remain very strong to prevent its spread. “
The state also requires face coverings for everyone, regardless of immunization status, in health centers, on public transport, and in care sites for adults and the elderly.
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