Fresno County can celebrate end of COVID masking mandate, but hold onto those masks
Fresno County made it official: The COVID mask mandate will end locally next week. Come Wednesday, fully vaccinated people can once again go into public settings indoors without masking.
Some will no doubt say that is the true measure of freedom. Unfortunately, Dr. Rais Vohra, the county’s interim health officer, said the virus that causes COVID is here to stay for good, and he foresees indefinite masking being needed in certain situations, such as in hospitals or medical clinics, or in senior-living facilities with elderly residents most vulnerable to infections.
The ill effects of getting sick from it will be more pronounced in places like the San Joaquin Valley, where vaccination rates lag the statewide average by wide margins.
Still, Fresno County residents can rejoice over this latest end to masking. Other counties, such as Los Angeles and Santa Clara, are continuing with their mandates because infection rates have not dropped enough.
Valley lags state average
This latest round of mandated masking began two months ago, as the highly contagious omicron variant began circulating. As of Thursday, 57% of Fresno County residents were fully vaccinated, meaning those people had received two doses of the Ffizer or Moderna shots, or the single dose of the Johnson and Johnson.
Kings, Merced and Mariposa counties are the worst in the central San Joaquin Valley region, with 42% to 47% of residents fully vaccinated. Fresno, Madera and Tulare have rates above 50%
By comparison, the state average of fully vaccinated people is 68%.
Honor system
How will businesses know who among their customers are fully vaccinated? They won’t.
Rather, Vohra admitted, it will be up to individual customers to comply. If one is fully vaccinated, one can go without masking. An unvaccinated person must still put on a mask indoors.
Unfortunately, the honor system has not worked too well in the Valley. Many people have ignored the state’s requirements for political or religious reasons.
“Honestly, I don’t think we’re going to see a huge change in people’s habits,” Vohra told the news conference. “I think people have made up their minds about how they want to practice their daily activities.”
Something that is not changing is the requirement for schoolchildren to wear masks while in class.
Vohra said that surgical masks are adequate for most daily activities. If someone is going to be spending time in a clinical setting, like a medical office, a higher-filtering mask like an N95 is needed. He stressed the fit of any mask needs to be snug against the face.
He noted that, going forward, anyone can wear masks anytime they feel the need. For example, it’s flu season, and a trip to the grocery store is needed? Wear a mask. And practice other good hygiene habits, like frequent hand-washing.
COVID will slowly ebb from pandemic to endemic, meaning the virus remains a concern, but not at the high levels of today. Before that happens, it may mutate in a new way that requires another masking order.
But here is hoping that does not occur, and come next Wednesday, being mask free is truly here.