Alameda County became the first in the Bay Area and perhaps the state to reimpose a requirement for people to wear face masks in most indoor settings starting Friday as rising COVID-19 cases from new omicron variants push hospitalizations to levels that alarmed local health officials.
Alameda County Health Officer Dr. Nicholas Moss issued an order that goes into effect at 12:01 a.m. Friday that will require people to wear masks in offices, retail stores, restaurants and bars, theaters, family entertainment centers, conference and event centers and public-facing state and local government offices.
“Rising COVID cases in Alameda County are now leading to more people being hospitalized and today’s action reflects the seriousness of the moment,” Moss said in a written statement. “We cannot ignore the data, and we can’t predict when this wave may end. Putting our masks back on gives us the best opportunity to limit the impact of a prolonged wave on our communities.”
But the county order announced Thursday leaves significant gaps in coverage and isn’t being followed by neighboring health jurisdictions around the greater Bay Area, where health officers on May 13 had collectively urged indoor mask wearing amid a rise in cases that began in April. In fact, five nearby counties with COVID-19 hospitalization levels higher than Alameda’s — high enough to warrant federal recommendations that everyone mask up — said that they have no immediate plans to reimpose a mask mandate.
The order also does not apply to the city of Berkeley, which has its own public health department. And it does not apply to K-12 schools through what’s left of the current academic year, which is wrapping up this month, though masks remain “strongly recommended.”
At Oakland Unified School District, which in late April became one of the last to drop its mask requirement, spokesman John Sasaki said “we’ll have to take a look at this new decision by Alameda County to determine how we will move forward.”
The county’s mask order does apply to children in all other youth settings, including childcare, summer school and youth programs, “as practicable.”
For people performing in live events — theater, concerts and professional sports — as well as those who are exercising or doing water-based sports, masks can be removed while performing, the order specifies. People participating in religious rituals can also take off their masks if necessary.
Many county residents seemed already to be on board.
At a Grocery Outlet in Oakland on Thursday, about half the shoppers wore masks, including Bobby Rosta, 70, who said his family is in the midst of a COVID-19 outbreak.
“My son-in-law has it and my wife and daughter,” said Rosta, who lifted groceries into his SUV. “I support it. COVID is still around. It’s in my house now.”
Deltrina Johnson, 67, said her gospel choir is once again masking up after a handful of members caught the disease.
“Yes people are tired of it, but it’s a minor inconvenience,” she said. “I would sooner wear masks than have to shut down businesses. I would say health and safety is more important than a little something over your mouth.”
Nate Tran, 29, who was unmasked at the grocery Thursday, wasn’t opposed to putting one on again.
“It’s like wearing a T-shirt at this point,” said Tran. “And I forgot my T-shirt today.”
But there’s bound to be new friction over the masks, which have been hotly debated throughout the pandemic, even in the Bay Area where residents have been more willing to go along with health orders. In August 2021, a patron at High Scores Arcade in Alameda sprayed a staffer with mace after being told to put on a mask, owner Shawn Livernoche said.
The arcade stopped requiring masks only a few weeks ago after asking staff and patrons how comfortable they would be with the change. Livernoche said High Scores will do whatever county health officials say is needed to help keep people healthy and stay open and in business.
“Whatever they suggest we do, we’re going to be on the side of safety,” Livernoche said. “Some people take it as a personal slight that we would ask them to wear a mask. But the fact is, that after a 15-month forced closure because of COVID, we’re barely hanging on.”
The order comes amid a nationwide resurgence of cases caused by cousins of the highly contagious omicron variant that swept through the country over the winter. In California, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now lists 14 counties at its “high” community level, reflecting case levels that are putting such a strain on the health care system that it recommends face masks indoors for everyone.
In the Bay Area, that includes Marin, Sonoma, Napa, Solano and Santa Clara.
San Francisco, Alameda, Contra Costa and San Mateo counties are at the medium level where masking is recommended for those at higher risk from the virus, although Alameda County said in a statement it expects to reach the high level soon if trends continue. Almost the entire state and most of the country are at the CDC’s high transmission level, reflecting how rapidly cases are spreading.
Even so, other local health officers saw no need to join Alameda County in its latest mask mandate.
“At this time, we do not have any plans to require masking indoors, although we continue to strongly recommend it for everyone,” Santa Clara County said in a statement.
“While we are seeing a a surge in cases, hospitalizations remain relatively stable at the moment and well below the peaks we saw during earlier waves,” Contra Costa Health Services spokesman Will Harper said.
In Berkeley, Health Officer Dr. Lisa B. Hernandez said the city’s data don’t currently warrant a new mask mandate. The current case rate is 40 per 100,000 people, a steady decline from a high of 65 cases per 100,000 on May 16. And she said residents who are eligible are 94% fully vaccinated, 81% have had booster shots, and they continue to “use tools to lower their own risk.”
Los Angeles County, at the CDC’s high transmission rate but medium community level, isn’t yet reimposing a mask requirement generally, though they are required on public transit. The Los Angeles Daily News reported that Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said she expects the county to reach the high community level later this month, at which point masks would be required indoors again.
Bay Area Rapid Transit has continued to require face masks aboard its trains even after local and federal transit authorities removed their requirement. Oakland International Airport said it will require masks again in light of the county policy.
Alameda County health officials said the number of reported cases have surpassed the peak of last summer’s delta variant wave, though they remain below last winter’s peak. But even those numbers are likely undercounted, because people are home testing and likely not reporting all infections.
Kimi Watkins-Tartt, Director of Alameda County’s Healthcare Services Agency’s Public Health Department, said, “We are seeing the same pattern of disproportionate impact on hard-hit communities play out again with rising cases.”
“Many Black and Brown residents are frontline workers who can’t work from home and are in workplaces where they frequently interact with the public,” Watkins-Tartt said. “A masking order will limit the spread of COVID in these vulnerable communities.”
