OC City Bans Covid-19 Mask Mandates During Late-Night Meeting

HUNTINGTON BEACH, CA — Huntington Beach city officials narrowly passed a ban on universal mask and COVID-19 vaccine mandates in the city during a narrow vote Wednesday.

The declaration passed with a 4-3 vote, with members of the City Council adjourning at 2:48 a.m. after the narrow vote was taken.

According to the city, those who've tested positive for COVID-19 would still be required to wear masks in "certain settings."

Mayor Pro Tem Gracey Van Der Mark introduced the motion at Tuesday night's meeting.

According to the declaration, Van Der Mark said mask mandates imposed at City Hall and other parts of the city in 2020 and 2021 "unnecessarily limited the freedoms of the citizens of Huntington Beach — even those who were not around anyone who tested positive for COVID-19 or at any risk of exposure."

As a part of the resolution, Huntington Beach City Manager Al Zelinka will be tasked with returning to the council at the next regular meeting with a resolution declaring the city to be a "no mask and no vaccine mandate city" as a response to COVID-19 or any variants.

"Individuals, whether at City Hall or in the private sector, should have a right to choose whether to wear a mask or get vaccinated or boosted," the declaration reads.

COVID-19 cases have been on the rise again recently in Orange County and neighboring Los Angeles County, according to data from those county's health departments.

The number of hospital patients statewide who test positive for COVID- 19 is also on the upswing after several weeks of decline, with 1,668 COVID- positive patients reported by the state health department in the latest data.

Orange County had 79 such patients.