Sacramento’s mask mandate may end soon as COVID rate drops, health officer says
Sacramento’s top health official expects to remove the county’s indoor mask mandate once the local coronavirus transmission rate returns to a level about as low as it was just before the start of the delta surge.
Reaching a seven-day average of less than five daily COVID-19 cases per 100,000 “would be a good point to end the indoor masking mandate that we have in Sacramento County,” health officer Dr. Olivia Kasirye said during a Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday.
Sacramento’s case rate was most recently reported at about 18 per 100,000, according to a Tuesday update to the local health department’s dashboard. But it is declining quickly, down from 28 per 100,000 in the past 10 days.
“Our hope is that, looking at all of the factors, we could get there pretty quickly. Or even not have to wait until we get to the five per 100,000, but we felt that was a target that was reachable and that would give a sense of comfort.”
The county’s per-capita case rate held below five per 100,000 from the end of May through the first three weeks of June, dipping as low as 3.9. At that point, the rate hadn’t been beneath five per 100,000 since June 2020.
Infections soared as the highly contagious delta variant took hold across California, sparking a sharp surge beginning around the start of July. Sacramento’s case rate peaked around 46 per 100,000 in mid-August.
Kasirye noted that masks would remain mandatory for those who are not fully vaccinated, and regardless of vaccination status in a few settings including K-12 campuses and congregate care facilities, in line with state health orders.
With COVID-19 numbers “heading in the right direction” for Sacramento, Kasirye also said she does not anticipate any additional mandates or restrictions at the county level.
“Right now, I think everyone is just busy trying to meet the deadlines for the (state) vaccination mandates,” including for health care workers, Kasirye said Tuesday.
California dropped most pandemic restrictions, including the statewide mask mandate for fully vaccinated residents, on June 15.
As the delta surge intensified, numerous counties issued renewed requirements for masks regardless of vaccination status in indoor public spaces. The California Department of Public Health recommended, but did not require, indoor masking for the fully vaccinated.
After Los Angeles County, which did so in mid-July, Sacramento and neighbor Yolo County were among the first in the state to return to universal mask mandates, doing so in late July. Most of the Bay Area joined them a few days later.
Yolo officials included an end condition within their local health order: the mandate there will expire once Yolo’s case rate is below two per 100,000 for seven consecutive days, a threshold 2½ times more stringent than Kasirye’s goal for Sacramento.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in July advised that should people should wear masks indoors regardless of vaccine status in areas with “high” or “substantial” virus transmission rates.
Kasirye’s target falls in line with the CDC’s recommendations. The agency defines high transmission as at least 100 cases per 100,000 residents per week (14.3 per day) and substantial as between 50 and 100 (7.1 to 14.2 per day).
Five daily cases per 100,000 would be 35 per week, which CDC defines within the “moderate” range of 10 to 50 per 100,000.
A vast majority of the United States — 95% of the nation’s more than 3,200 counties — as of this week remained classified as having high transmission rates.
