Marin Reinstates Mask Mandate

MARIN COUNTY, CA — Marin officials on Wednesday announced that the county was effectively reinstating its mask mandate, and the new health order applies to everyone, regardless of vaccination status.

County officials announced the decision to rescind amendments to a previous health order that allowed fully vaccinated people to go unmasked in limited circumstances.

The new health order goes into effect Thursday at 12:01 a.m.

NBC Bay Area reported Tuesday that Alameda and Marin counties would likely revise their health orders this week, and San Francisco joined both counties in doing so Wednesday.

Contra Costa County announced a similar measure Tuesday, fueling speculation that other counties would follow suit.

Marin was among several Bay Area counties that were granted a state exemption for certain settings where vaccines are required such as gyms and offices. The move aligns Alameda County with the rest of the state.

The revised health orders come as an omicron case explosion tears across the nation and much of the world.

Marin officials are urging the unvaccinated get their shots and requiring that anyone who tests positive or is symptomatic stay home. People who are unvaccinated or haven’t gotten their booster shot will be required to stay home if exposed.

Since Marin’s first omicron case was detected Dec. 17, average daily COVID-19 case counts have tripled, county officials said.

Marin set a single-day record Dec. 28 with 338 new cases, shattering the previous record by more than 100 cases.

“When we see numbers like this, it’s time to respond,” Marin Health Officer Dr. Matt Willis said.

“The mask exemption for certain settings was a pre-Omicron policy. This variant behaves differently, and the risk of infection in a room full of vaccinated people who are unmasked is much higher now.”

Despite rising case counts, Marin’s COVID-19 hospitalization rates have remained stable across, which officials attribute to the county being among America’s most vaccinated communities.

As of Tuesday, 88.7 percent of all Marin residents have completed their vaccine series and 95.9 percent of county residents have received at least one jab, according to the county's vaccination dashboard.

Among Marin's eligible population (ages 5 and over), 92.0 percent of eligible Marin residents have completed their vaccine series and 98.0 percent of county residents have gotten at least one shot.

Marin tops the state with the highest vaccination rate and the North Bay county ranks among the nation's top 10 in that department among all counties (regardless of population), The New York Times reports.

Marin was the nation's most vaccinated county among those with a population over 250,000, according to data compiled earlier this year by The San Francisco Chronicle.

When the state’s indoor mask mandate, went into effect Dec. 15, Marin and other local counties were given an option to adopt a pre-existing mask order in lieu of the state’s order.

Marin and five other jurisdictions – the counties of Sonoma, San Francisco, Contra Costa, Alameda, and the city of Berkeley – adopted local orders that allowed some exemptions not found in the state’s policy.

The recension of the local order means Marin now falls under CDPH’s mask order, which remains in effect through at least Jan. 15.

Federal health officials said last week that omicron has already become the dominant variant in the U.S. accounting for 73 percent of new infections, The Associated Press reports.

"All of us have a date with omicron," Dr. Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security told The AP.

"If you're going to interact with society, if you're going to have any type of life, omicron will be something you encounter, and the best way you can encounter this is to be fully vaccinated."

Public health experts are virtually monolithic in their view that COVID-19 vaccines, including booster doses, continue to offer the most effective protection against hospitalization and death from all COVID-19 variants.

To book an appointment or find a nearby clinic visit GetVaccinatedMarin.org.

More information face coverings, local policies, and resources for businesses, including printable signs, can be found here.