As COVID cases rise, here’s why a mask mandate ‘is not on the table’ for Fresno
.JPG "Kerman City workers Dean Negrete, left, and Nirmal Sidhu, set up banners for the Covid-19 vaccination set up at the Kerman Community Center, June 9, 2021.")
Fresno County’s health department says it would support any large entertainment venues if they wanted to require proof of vaccinations for people to attend concerts and other indoor “mega events.”
But Dr. Rais Vohra, interim health officer with the Fresno County Department of Public Health, said that the issuance of any local orders or mandates for proving vaccination status or requiring masks for people going to such events is not part of his agency’s plan.
That’s despite a continuing surge of new COVID-19 cases cropping up locally and across the state.
Current rules from the California Department of Public Health for “mega events” – those with more than 5,000 people indoors – require that people be fully vaccinated against the coronavirus or have a negative COVID-19 test before they can attend.
But the state also allows venues like Fresno State’s Save Mart Center and Selland Arena in downtown Fresno to let attendees “self attest” that by purchasing their ticket, they meet the vaccine or test requirement.
It’s effectively an honor system in which people promise, but need not prove with documentation, that they’re vaccinated or have a negative coronavirus test.
“I think certainly it’s up to everyone to decide how much they trust their community and how well the ‘honor system’ might work in a situation like that,” Vohra said in a media briefing Friday.
But the county does not have the resources to try to enforce any sort of stricter standard of proof at events that attract hundreds or even thousands of people. “”That’s not logistically possible for us,” he said.
“We would definitely support any venue that wants to put in some kind of enforcement like that and help them do it,” Vohra added.
“In fact, we’re actively looking at … getting these antigen (rapid-result) tests and using those more broadly in order to give people a better risk assessment.”
Organizers of the Clovis Rodeo earlier this year collaborated with Sierra Pacific Orthopedic Center to set up a testing station where fans could take an antigen rapid test and get results within about a half hour for clearance to enter the arena.
The rapid tests are a faster, but less reliable, indicator of infection than PCR tests in which a swab sample is taken from a person’s nasal passages and sent off for analysis.
“We’re open to discussing any number of strategies with people,” Vorha said. “We just know that a ‘health order’ or mandate is not really on the table, and really I don’t know that it’s much more effective than educating people.”
“When people hear ‘orders’ without really understanding the rationale and without internalizing it, that actually breeds a lot of resistance and backlash, and it’s actually somewhat counterproductive,” he added.
In the first week of August, Fresno County health officials have reported nearly 1,600 new coronavirus cases through Friday. That’s almost triple the case volume from two weeks ago, and almost 10 times as many cases as were reported in the first full week of July.
Hospitalizations have also increased substantially over the past month. This week, the number of patients being treated in hospitals in the county for confirmed coronavirus infections hovered around 160 each day – about four times more than the 40 patients requiring hospital treatment a month ago.
At the same time, vaccination rates have been relatively stagnant compared to late March and early April, when 60,000 or more doses of vaccine were being administered each week in Fresno County. In the week ending July 10, fewer than 10,000 doses were given in the county – the lowest weekly figure since early January, when unsteady supplies limited the availability of the vaccines.
The doses given over the past few weeks has inched upward, to just under 13,000 in the last week of July. Still, of the more than 1 million residents in Fresno County, more than half of the county’s population remains unvaccinated.
That proportion of people who haven’t gotten their shots – including about 190,000 children under the age of 12 who are not yet eligible to be vaccinated – is a reason why, Vohra said, “people need to understand that large indoor gatherings are increasingly unsafe during this surge.”
Vohra said he believes that everyone should wear face coverings when they’re attending indoor events, even if the county doesn’t make it mandatory. Rather, “people should really rethink what their risk is, especially if they’re not vaccinated,” he said of indoor concerts, events and shows. People who don’t have their shots “should really consider using a mask, because that’s required, but also maybe opt out (of the event), or go get the vaccine.”
“That night of entertainment may lead to six weeks in the hospital, and I’m not being hyperbolic,” Vohra added. “That’s exactly what’s going to be happening.”
Vohra also reminded people about the highly contagious delta variant of coronavirus that emerged last fall in India and has since swept around the world. It’s now estimated by the state health department to account for about 85% of all new cases in California last month and more than 93% of new cases across the U.S. during the last two weeks of July, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.
As of Friday, state health officials had notified Fresno County of 147 confirmed delta variant cases, but county health leaders say the actual number is likely far higher because so few positive coronavirus tests are being submitted to the state for the genomic sequencing needed to determine what variant or strain a person is infected with.
“For some people, having that night out after being locked up for so long will be worth the risk; for others, it won’t,” he said of attending mega events.
“It’s up to each person to weigh that risk very carefully and to think through whether they want to take that chance, knowing what we know about the highly contagious nature of this new strain, how our case rates are going up and our hospitalizations are going up.”
This story was originally published August 6, 2021 at 4:50 PM.
