© Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE a sign in the window of a enterprise in Chinatown on furnish Avenue reminds consumers of the indoor mask mandate in San Francisco on Aug. 5, 2021.
COVID-19 circumstances and hospitalizations are trending downwards throughout the San Francisco Bay enviornment, precipitously so in some counties.
In San Francisco County, the seven-day standard of recent day by day instances sits at 124, down from the 309 on Aug. 2. In Marin County, the number of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 has been cut in half from 20 on Aug. 23 to 10 on Sept. 6.
In early August, seven Bay area counties — San Francisco, San Mateo, Alameda, Santa Clara, Contra Costa, Marin and Sonoma — concurrently issued an indoor masks mandate for all individuals even with vaccination fame as the more contagious delta variant of COVID-19 started to spread within the area. Napa County later adopted go well with, however Solano County has now not issued the sort of mandate.
at the time, some fitness officers — together with Contra Costa County health Officer Dr. Chris Farnitano and Marin County Deputy Public health Officer Dr. Lisa Santora — talked about their counties will video display hospitalization numbers in picking out when to lift the mandate.
With hospitalizations beginning to fall off across the particularly vaccinated Bay area, SFGATE checked in with the eight counties imposing an indoor masks mandate and requested whether fitness officials are eyeing any certain case or hospitalization thresholds to determine when to carry mandates.
All except Marin answered, but of these seven, handiest Alameda pointed to certain criteria that fitness officers are the usage of of their decision-making method. here's what all seven counties stated when requested concerning the future of indoor mask mandates.
San FranciscoWhen the mandate became first announced, city appearing health Officer Dr. Naveena Bobba expressly pointed out the mandate as "temporary."
Now, with instances and hospitalizations decreasing in the San Francisco, the city's health branch noted in a press release, "We proceed to video display the instances and hospitalizations and may make selections on overlaying requirements according to the records and the science and are consulting with our regional and state companions on next steps."
No case or hospitalization data standards changed into shared.
Alamedaunlike San Francisco, Alameda County pointed to specific criteria for when the mandate may be lifted.
Alameda County Public health branch spokesperson Neetu Balram mentioned health officers will not consider lifting the mandate except the county reaches "moderate" or "low" tiers of neighborhood transmission on the facilities for ailment handle and Prevention's county-by-county tracker.
Alameda County is currently listed as a place of "excessive" transmission, as is each different Bay enviornment county except for Marin, which is listed as "average."
San MateoA spokesperson for the county observed only, "We proceed to verify facts about the have an effect on of COVID-19 in San Mateo County and to emphasize vaccination and the wearing of face coverings because the most beneficial safeguard measures to in the reduction of the spread of the disease and stop critical disorder and dying."
Santa ClaraWhen the mandate went into effect, Santa Clara County turned into the simplest county that provided a long-latitude estimate for when it would be lifted, as Deputy health Officer Dr. George Han observed, "We need the brought protection of masks returned into our lives except all and sundry is capable of be vaccinated, especially little ones."
Han's observation strongly suggests that Santa Clara might not raise its indoor mask mandate unless the FDA approves vaccines for babies a long time 12 and younger. The newest estimate for when approval could take place is "early to midwinter," NBC information mentioned, meaning Santa Clara County may well be taking a look at indoor mask mandates for the rest of 2021.
When asked no matter if the county nevertheless plans to maintain the masks mandate in place until the FDA approves vaccines for more youthful babies, the county's fitness department spoke of in a press release, "We continue to display screen and maintain situational awareness of our case counts and vaccination costs to deliver the neighborhood with probably the most latest tips and should inform the community when the mandate could be or is lifted," and "we defer to the federal authorities on when babies under 12 years would obtain the vaccine."
Contra CostaCounty fitness Officer Farnitano had prior to now said hospitalization numbers could be used to determine when to raise the mandate, and probably the most recent seven-day typical for hospitalizations in the county is 188 sufferers, down from the height of 220 on Aug. 23.
The county's health department didn't give a threshold for when hospitalizations can be regarded sufficiently low, declaring, "We do not use a selected threshold for picking out when to alternate the fitness order, and we cannot predict when conditions will permit a change. we are able to say that, while the summer time surge of COVID-19 doubtless peaked in mid to late August in Contra Costa, our case fees and hospitalization totals remain excessive, corresponding to last wintry weather. we're cautiously monitoring the statistics and may regulate fitness orders when protected to achieve this."
Sonomacases and hospitalizations don't seem to be falling rather as precipitously in Sonoma County because the leisure of the location, and county spokesman Matt Brown observed in an email there is "no conclusion date or trigger that would conclusion" the masks mandate.
NapaNapa County issued a masks mandate later than the different Bay enviornment counties, and like Sonoma, isn't seeing a speedy falloff in new circumstances. definitely, Napa County's case rate really increased week-over-week.
Dr. Karen Smith, Napa County's intervening time public fitness officer, observed in a press release, "We proceed to carefully computer screen a number of symptoms of the spread of COVID-19 in Napa County and the encircling enviornment including: case charges, local hospitalizations and intensive care unit potential. The mask mandate could be lifted when there is evidence of a sustained downward fashion in transmission and ICU capability has recovered."
There are at the moment 22 sufferers hospitalized with COVID-19 in Napa County and the county dashboard estimates 0% ICU ability.
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