Eight Bay Space counties — Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara and Sonoma — set standards for absolutely lifting the masks mandate final week. On Friday, Marin was the county that is the closest to assembly the necessities, reporting one of many lowest COVID-19 case charges and the best vaccination price within the area.
Marin County Public Well being Director Dr. Matt Willis mentioned the earliest date the mandate might finish is Nov. 3, however the county must work laborious to maintain circumstances all the way down to get there, and if circumstances and hospitalizations bump up, this date might simply be pushed again.
“For now we’re specializing in sustaining the progress we’ve gained,” Willis mentioned.
This is a have a look at every of the factors and the place Marin and a number of the the opposite counties stand in assembly the necessities.
A county should advance into the CDC’s yellow tier
A county should attain the “reasonable” (yellow) tier of case charges, as decided by the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention’s knowledge tracker, and stay there for 3 weeks. Marin was the primary county within the area to advance into the yellow tier earlier this week.
San Mateo reached the yellow tier after Marin. Alameda, Contra Costa, San Francisco, Santa Clara and Sonoma have been all within the orange tier, indicating “substantial” group unfold, on Friday morning. Napa was the one county within the “excessive” (purple) tier.
Whereas Marin’s transfer into the yellow is promising, it wants to stay at that stage for 21 consecutive days.
“Three consecutive weeks in yellow will imply we’ve maintained fewer than 18 new circumstances per day on common,” Willis defined. “That’s among the many lowest charges within the state, and California’s charges are the bottom within the nation. We’re in place to peel again restrictions.”
The vaccination price must be at 80%
To elevate the masks mandate, 80% of a county’s complete inhabitants should be absolutely vaccinated in opposition to COVID-19, or eight weeks faraway from when the COVID-19 vaccine has been licensed for youngsters ages 5 to 11.
As of Friday, 81% of Marin’s inhabitants was absolutely vaccinated. By comparability, San Francisco was at 75%.
Willis mentioned Marin’s excessive vaccination price helps drive down circumstances and hospitalizations.
“We’ve talked about following the science as we place new restrictions, and the native masks mandate helped management the fourth wave,” he mentioned. “As we moved out of lockdown up to now, we noticed proof that we are able to safely elevate restrictions when situations permit. With over 90% of our eligible group absolutely vaccinated, we’ve earned one other margin of normalcy.”
In San Mateo County, 72% of the entire inhabitants is absolutely vaccinated, the county well being division mentioned.
“There’s nonetheless some work to do,” Preston Service provider, a spokesperson for San Mateo County Well being, wrote in an e mail. “We estimate that there are round 68,000 presently eligible and unvaccinated residents. We proceed to function vaccination clinics providing first and second doses of Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson at 20 places which are accessible to probably the most impacted communities.”
Service provider mentioned the county is working with community-based organizations, medical leaders and group leaders to teach residents on vaccine security and efficacy and the dangers posed by COVID-19.
Hospitalizations want to remain low
To elevate the masks mandate, a county’s well being officer should decide that COVID-19 hospitalizations are “low and steady.”
“We wish to see fewer individuals hospitalized with COVID-19 earlier than lifting the mandate,” mentioned Willis. “Final week, there have been 15 complete COVID-19 hospitalizations in Marin. So we set that because the metric — we’ll wish to see lower than 15 individuals within the hospital for COVID-19 earlier than lifting the mandate.”
Different county well being officers have not publicly shared at what level hospitalizations can be thought of “low and steady.”
