As Covid cases sharply fall, hospitalizations stabilize and vaccination rates unhurriedly rise (and as, uh, politicians pose maskless at football games), California has decided not to extend its statewide indoor mask mandate.
On February 15, California’s statewide indoor mask mandate will expire, which means only unvaccinated individuals will be required to wear masks in indoor public settings. But—because of course there’s a but—this likely won’t apply in Los Angeles County, which has its own stricter ordinance in place that predates the statewide one.
On February 15, California’s statewide indoor mask requirement will expire.⁰
— Office of the Governor of California (@CAgovernor) February 7, 2022
Unvaccinated people must still wear masks in indoor public settings.
Cases have decreased 65% since the Omicron peak. Stay vigilant, get vaccinated, get boosted.
While it’s yet to comment specifically on the state’s expiring requirement, just last week the L.A. County Department of Public Health reiterated and expanded upon the metrics required to drop its local mandate. When Covid-19 hospitalizations drop below 2,500 people for seven consecutive days, the county will ease some of its surge requirements: Notably masks will no longer be required at large outdoor “mega events.” To drop the indoor mandate, L.A. County will need to log two straight weeks at or below “moderate transmission” tier (the second of four CDC-defined tiers), and during a period in which there are no emerging reports of significantly circulating, vaccine-evading new variants of concern. As it stands now, L.A.’s hospitalizations are still just above 2,500, and it remains in the highest level of the CDC’s tiers (there are currently more than 1,000 cases per 100,000 people in the last seven days, and that number would need to fall below 50).
This all means that, come February 15, vaccinated individuals will be able to ditch their masks in mandate-less neighbors like Orange County, but not in L.A. Even in those areas, though, a federal mandate will still require masks on public transit and in healthcare facilities.
In addition to the mask mandate, the state will also ease the definitions for mega events, which require proof of vaccination or a negative test result: The threshold for what qualifies as an indoor mega events will increase from 500 to 1,000 people, while outdoor ones will increase from 5,000 to 10,000 (it’s not clear yet if both the City and County of L.A. will follow suit on this).
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