SLO County’s mask mandate hasn’t been enforced. Ending it on Feb. 16 makes sense

Enough already.

California is dropping its indoor mask mandate for vaccinated people effective Feb. 16. In a reversal of an earlier decision, San Luis Obispo County has decided to do the same.

Not everyone will agree with that, but the mandate has been ineffectual for a while now.

Keeping the requirement in place might make sense if the rule were both accepted more widely and enforced consistently. That hasn’t been the case. It’s been ignored more and more with each passing day, to the point where it’s mostly just a personal choice on the part of individuals and businesses.

Even public agencies aren’t consistently enforcing the requirement within the halls of government.

And if that’s the way it is, it’s smart to make it official and quit with the charade.

That doesn’t mean face masks are ineffective in fighting COVID.

Quite the opposite, especially now that medical-grade masks are widely available. High-risk or cautious individuals who want additional protection against COVID can and should continue to wear them, especially in crowded indoor venues.

But for the general population of vaccinated individuals, it’s time to move back toward normal, and many states are easing the mandate now that omicron cases are declining.

Beyond the fatigue, the numbers bear this out.

At the peak of its surge in mid-January, San Luis Obispo County recorded more than 220 average new cases per 100,000 residents. That rate has fallen to 92, and continues to drop.

That’s encouraging news, though the CDC hasn’t given its blessing to relaxing mask mandates. It recommends universal mask wearing in areas where the new case rate is higher than 50 cases per 100,000 people.

But again, mandates that aren’t enforced only work if people are willing to voluntarily comply.

In announcing the lifting of the mandate, California Public Health Director Dr. Tomás J. Aragón wrote that “things are moving in the right direction.”

SLO County Health Officer Penny Borenstein issued a similar statement on Wednesday.

“Now that SLO County has weathered the worst of this omicron surge, we can lift this requirement and look to our community to wear a mask when it’s most important to do so: in crowded indoor spaces, if you are at higher risk or close to others who are, if you feel unwell, or if you are in any of the settings still covered by state requirements,” she wrote in a news release.

The state Public Health Department will still require face coverings on public transit and in homeless shelters, long-term care facilities and health care settings.

For now, schoolchildren will still be required to mask up, though the state is reviewing that, as it should. It’s unfair to allow adults to go unmasked while requiring small children to keep masks on for much of the school day.

It’s true that this may be just another lull in the pandemic. A new variant could emerge, making a mask mandate necessary again.

But living in a constant state of high alert is stressful, and as much as we support local control, a hodge-podge of conflicting COVID rules is confusing.

Another thing: At this point, continuing to require masks even as other areas are relaxing mandates only gives ammunition to people who want to throw temper tantrums over government overreach or harass people who have the temerity to ask them to mask up.

And that is exhausting.

Dr. Borenstein did the right thing; it’s time to end the local mask mandate.

This editorial has been updated to reflect the county’s decision to lift the mandate.

This story was originally published February 9, 2022 at 5:30 AM.