California Health Officials Recommend Universal Masking in Public Indoors

Source: Pixabay
Source: Pixabay

As of 18 July, the public health officials in California changed their Covid-19 recommendations. The new guidance recommends wearing masks in public indoor places, even for those fully vaccinated. The same recommendation was made by the CDC a couple of days ago. The new recommendations made by the CDC and by Californian officials are due to the highly contagious Delta strain.

California has seen a surge in the number of daily cases

There are several counties inside California where it is mandatory to wear masks in public indoor spaces, regardless of vaccination statuses, such as Los Angeles and Yolo. Sources also state that another reason behind the recommendation is the surge in hospitalization cases due to infections with the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Health officials declared that by wearing masks indoors, the spread of the virus might be slowed down, and, thus, the outbreak might be easier to control.

Some Californian Counties already made the same recommendation

Before this official recommendation, some Californian counties has already advised their residents to wear masks indoors. This came after the CDC announced that fully vaccinated people can still get infected, especially with the Delta strain, and they can also spread it to other people. With fall coming soon and the new school year, children and adults will have to wear masks in public K-12 schools. Unvaccinated people are accountable for 90% of hospitalizations and death due to the SARS-CoV-2 virus in the U.S, and this means that the virus is evolving and finding new ways to infect hosts. However, vaccinated people still have fewer chances of developing severe illness after contracting the Delta variant or any other SARS-CoV-2 strain. Those who want to get Covid-19 vaccines can choose from PfizerBioNTech, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson.

William Reid
A science writer through and through, William Reid’s first starting working on offline local newspapers. An obsessive fascination with all things science/health blossomed from a hobby into a career. Before hopping over to Optic Flux, William worked as a freelancer for many online tech publications including ScienceWorld, JoyStiq and Digg. William serves as our lead science and health reporter.