San Diego County will not reinstate mask obligations due to surge in COVID-19 cases

Photo courtesy KPBS staff

Above: On December 25, 2020, there is a Delmar sign that informs the general public to wear a mask and “stop spreading”.

While some counties in the state require masks indoors regardless of COVID-19 vaccination status, San Diego County public health officials said Monday that indoor masking and specific settings for unvaccinated people. Announced that it will follow state guidelines that require masking for everyone in.

“COVID-19 is currently an unvaccinated pandemic,” said Dr. Wilma Uten, a county public health officer. “Especially the number of cases and hospitalizations is increasing, so get vaccinated now.”

Related: San Diego Doctors Praise State Vaccine Order

A county statement follows Monday’s announcement that Governor Gavin Newsom requires employees in all states throughout California and all workers in hospitals and medical facilities to show evidence of COVID-19 vaccination. Will be done. Those who cannot or refuse to do so must be tested at least once a week.

A vaccine validation program for approximately 246,000 employees and all healthcare professionals in the state will be implemented over the next few weeks and is expected to be in compliance by August 23. This applies to all health care environments (public and private) throughout the state. ..

This policy does not meet the “duty” of vaccines and gives employees the option of undergoing regular COVID testing instead of providing evidence of vaccination. These workers should be tested at least once a week and, in some cases, twice a week.

However, the state has not yet imposed a new obligation for everyone to wear masks indoors.

County health officials said San Diegans who feel uncomfortable around others need to wear masks as needed.

“I’m completely vaccinated, but I’m still wearing a mask in public,” said Dr. Eric McDonald, Chief Medical Officer of the county. “People need to take all precautions to prevent the transmission and spread of COVID-19, especially if they live with people who are not vaccinated or who are immunocompromised.”

Related: California requires state workers to vaccinate or test

As of Monday, about 3,000 people were hospitalized with COVID, up from about 900 on May 15, according to state officials. The average daily incidence of new cases is 1.9 per 100,000 on May 15 and is currently 9.6.

State officials believe that the daily infection rate of unvaccinated residents is about 2 per 100,000 of the vaccinated population, compared to more than 14 per 100,000. Said that it has been. This is equivalent to about seven times as many unvaccinated residents as vaccinated people.

Locally, 98 percent of hospitalizations over the last 30 days are people who have not been vaccinated or have completed the entire series of double-dose vaccines. Approximately 150,000 San Diegans have only been partially vaccinated, delaying their second vaccination.

“A single dose of the vaccine does not provide enough immunity to prevent infection with COVID-19, especially the delta mutant,” Uten said. “Inoculation with both the Pfizer vaccine and the Moderna vaccine provides the best protection against all currently available COVID-19 variants.”

Related: US maintains travel restrictions for now due to virus surge

From Friday to Sunday, the county reported an additional 2,044 COVID-19 cases and 55 hospitalizations. After 12 more cases have been confirmed in the last 3 days, the number of occurrences in the community has reached 27.

To increase access to the COVID-19 vaccine, the county currently operates Great Eight, a collection of free, geographically dispersed vaccination sites for three vaccines: the United States, Moderna, Pfizer, and Johnson. You can choose either. & Johnson. For a list of locations and more information, please visit: Coronavirus-sd.com/vaccine..

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