SLO County emerges from face covering mandate cautious — but maskless
Sicco and Gitta Westra, who live in Arroyo Grande, have been careful throughout the pandemic.
They said because of their age — 71 years old — they have to be. But at the same time, they feel that SLO County’s recent decision to lift its indoor mask mandate is a “step in the right direction.”
“It’s not ‘everything is back to normal,’ but step by step,” Sicco Westra told The Tribune while the couple were grabbing a coffee from Scout in San Luis Obispo. “And it’s good to get to a situation where it’s more controlled.”
Wednesday marked the first day in months that vaccinated San Luis Obispo County residents could go maskless in public spaces.
Mask-wearing in downtown San Luis Obispo was varied — most employees of local businesses were wearing masks, but most patrons didn’t if they were outside or seated already at a restaurant.
Some businesses had signs stating mask-wearing was still required, others had a sign that said it was optional and some didn’t elect to have a sign about masks at all.
Orrin Oliver, a longtime San Luis Obispo resident who was also getting a drink at Scout Coffee, said he was pleased, but not surprised, that the mandate had been lifted.
He said that he has always questioned if mask-wearing was beneficial because of the discrepancies he saw in mandates at the beginning of the pandemic when the virus was first being studied.
“I guess if it’s one word, its inconsistency,” Oliver said about the back-and-forth.
He added he doesn’t understand why masks are still being mandated in schools while the rest of the county doesn’t have a mandate.
But for Aaron Almeda, another San Luis Obispo resident, the mask mandate being lifted didn’t really make an impression.
He said he will probably continue wearing a mask in most settings — COVID-19 isn’t going anywhere, he said — but that it’s a weird line trying to decide whether people have to wear a mask or not. He added that with or without a mandate, masks will still likely be a part of every day life.
“I don’t think were gonna go back to not wearing masks,” he said. “COVID is obviously here to stay, it’s not just going to disappear.”
In an interview regarding the decision to rescind the mask mandate, San Luis Obispo County Health Officer Dr. Penny Borenstein said she thinks people are just tired of wearing masks, especially vaccinated folks.
“A lot of them are wondering, ‘Why did I go to all this trouble to do everything I can to protect myself and all of those around me? And I don’t get the benefit — if you will — of not having to mask,’ ” she said.
County lifts mask mandate to limit confusion, align with the state
The decision to rescind the indoor mask mandate falls in line with the California Public Health Department‘s unmasking timeline but comes before the county reached pandemic benchmarks set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Borenstein said in an interview with The Tribune the decision to align with the state guidelines was made in part to limit confusion around changing COVID-19 protections.
“I would say we decided it’s not so much lifting our mask order — though, that is, in effect, what we’re doing — but we’re aligning with the state,” Borenstein said.
The state made the decision to transition from making masks required to strongly recommended in some indoor settings because the models project a steep decline in new coronavirus cases and hospitalizations in the coming weeks, Secretary of California Department of Health and Human Services Dr. Mark Ghaly said in a Feb. 14 news conference.
“We understand a lot better where (the virus) is heading and what is happening,” Ghaly said.
Although the state continues to require masks for the unvaccinated and strongly recommend masks for everyone else, the guidelines shifted to allow for vaccinated individuals to make masking decisions at their own discretion in certain settings, Ghaly said.
Counties can make COVID-19 protections additive, Ghaly said, meaning, local governments are not permitted to loosen COVID-19 masking restrictions beyond the state requirements, though they can align with the state or make masking protections stricter.
The state also announced plans to re-evalute the COVID-19 masking guidelines in school settings based on case rates, hospitalizations, vaccinations and more Feb. 28.
County lifts mask mandate despite high levels of community transmission
The decision to align with the state on shifting COVID-19 masking guidelines from required to strongly recommended comes in contrast to criteria previously set by the SLO County Public Health Department.
“Though I’m aware that we had previously indicated we would use a different set of metrics, I perceive that the pandemic is in constant evolution,” Borenstein said.
In October, Public Health said the indoor mask mandate would not be lifted until San Luis Obispo County reached moderate levels of community transmission as defined by the CDC and stays there for at least 10 days.
To reach a moderate level of community transmission, the number of new cases per 100,000 residents in the past seven days must fall between 50 and 99 new cases, according to the CDC.
Currently, the county is at the highest level of community transmission with about 661 new cases per 100,000 residents, according to the CDC.
The second criteria was for Borenstein to determine that hospitalizations are low and stable enough to meet the needs of the community.
“Today is not where we were in August,” she said, noting there are now fewer people hospitalized with severe COVID that required ventilators.
The health order reinstating the indoor mask mandate was issued Sept. 1 as the spread of the delta coronavirus variant caused hospitals and intensive care units to reach their breaking point, Borenstein said.
The recent omicron surge was alarming, but the variant itself caused less acute symptoms with fewer people landing on ventilators, she said.
All of this adds up to a much rosier outlook when it comes to the state of the pandemic in SLO County moving forward.
The COVID-19 mask is still required in certain settings
Although SLO County residents can ditch the mask in some indoor settings, there are plenty of places where masking is still required by the state and county health order.
All people, regardless of vaccination status, must wear a COVID-19 mask on public transportation, indoor K-12 school and childcare settings, healthcare settings and congregate care settings, such as in jails, prisons, homeless shelters, etc., according to the California Public Health Department.
The state and, by extension, the county, still requires all unvaccinated individuals wear a COVID-19 mask in all indoor settings.
“Now, I’m not naive enough to think that is going to be universally enforced,” Borenstein said. “But the message we still want to convey is that masks are incredibly effective, and especially if people are not vaccinated, it adds an extra level of protection that is needed.”
The results of a CDC study conducted in California added new evidence showing benefits of indoor masking for reducing the risk of contracting COVID-19.
People who wore a respirator mask, such as a KN95 or N95, had an 83% lower chance of contracting COVID-19 than those who did not wear a mask, according to the study.
Those who wore a surgical mask had a 66% lower chance and those who wore a cloth mask had 56% lower odds than the unmasked, the study said.
“The mask as a tool is not going away as a preventive layer,” Borenstein said.
Masks might be going away in California K-12 school settings sooner rather than later.
Beginning on Feb. 28, the state is going to review the available evidence to decide if masks are still necessary in K-12 school settings, Dr. Mark Ghaly said.
Some of the factors the state will be looking at in the context of school masking requirements include COVID-19 case numbers, hospitalizations, vaccinations and test positive rates, Ghaly said.
If the state opts to remove masking requirement in school settings, Borenstein said it is likely that the county will follow suit.
“I’m very much in favor of students being in school and being as protected as they can be,” she said. “If our disease rates come down, as they appear that they will in the next few weeks, then it’s not unreasonable that we would align with what the state is doing.”
What if the indoor masking mandates need to be reinstated?
Although San Luis Obispo County residents appear to be past the worst of the omicron surge and will be allowed to take off their masks, this doesn’t mean the COVID-19 pandemic is over.
SLO County residents lived mask-free for roughly 12 weeks last summer between when the state lifted the previous COVID-19 blueprint on June 15, 2020 until the rise of delta and flood of new COVID-19 patients in local hospitals, which cause the county to reinstate the health order including the mask mandate in September.
If a new variant of concern emerges, it’s possible that the state and county health departments may need to reinstate the indoor mask mandate for vaccinated people.
There’s been community backlash toward public health regarding community protections like masking and vaccinations throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Borenstein said.
She doesn’t anticipate that reinstating the mask mandate would go smoothly.
“I think there would be backlash, but Public Health is going to do what we feel is necessary at a time that it might become necessary,” Borenstein said. “I’m hopeful that will not be the case, but we’ll just have to see.”
