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It began with Sonoma County. The city of Hayward instituted one. By the end of last week, six Bay Area counties consisting of more than 5 million people had actually announced orders needing their residents to cover their faces in most public areas.
Those orders entered into impact Wednesday in San Francisco, San Mateo, Alameda, Contra Costa and Marin counties. They took effect recently in Los Angeles and Sonoma counties.
Because there’s no such thing as a dumb question, here are some responses to the most obvious ones regarding the brand-new mask required.
Masks? Aren’t we expected to leave those for healthcare workers?
N-95 and other medical-grade masks, yes.
The N-95 respirator masks, when used effectively, can safeguard the person wearing them from becoming infected. Fabric masks are planned to avoid the wearer from spreading the illness.
Symptoms can take up to 48 hours to appear and can be mild in numerous cases, however no less infectious.
Other masks, like those with one-way valves popular throughout fire season or plastic ones of the Halloween variety, do not abide by the order because they allow droplets to escape the covering.
When do I need to use one?
Are you leaving your house? Facial coverings are needed to be worn by anybody older than 12 while waiting in line or inside any necessary service, using public transit, riding in a taxi/Lyft/Uber or looking for health care, as well as anytime you come within 6 feet of someone from outside your household.
Companies can deny service to anyone not using a face covering, and BART has said it will need all riders to cover their faces at stations and on trains.
When don’t you have to cover your face? Whenever you are alone or just with members of your own family, like in an automobile or when working out, as long as you keep 6 feet of distance at all times. There are some other exceptions, like specific employees who are restricted to private offices “if that individual is alone and in an area sporadically visited by the public, but that specific must place on a Face Covering when coworkers neighbor, when being visited by a client/customer, and anywhere members of the general public or other colleagues are regularly present,” according to the order.
Health officials have actually stressed that using a facial covering does not replace other social-distancing steps, like preserving 6 feet of distance and just leaving your house for necessary trips.
Could I actually be punished?
The exact enforcement differs by county, but the general message from health officials: yes.
But I don’t have a mask. Where can I get one?
If you are an important worker, your company is required to supply individual protective devices.
If not, lots of merchants have actually begun offering masks online. Here’s a helpful list of locally made masks.
Or you can develop your own, using a bandana, Tee shirts, towel or other fabric product. Here’s a guide from the CDC, or if you’re more of a Youtube-DIYer, here’s a video tutorial.
For how long will the order last?
All counties that issued the order did so until additional notification. It “will continue to remain in result up until it is extended, rescinded, superseded, or modified in composing by the Health Officer,” the order states.
Why hasn’t Santa Clara County enacted a comparable order?
The county in the Bay Location with the most confirmed cases and deaths from COVID-19 was one of the couple of in the region to opt not to provide a mask mandate. It’s not out of a lack of safety measure, stated health officer Dr. Sara Cody, who led the push for the Bay Location’s initial, first-in-the-nation shelter-in-place orders.
She said she didn’t want to strain police departments even further, however continued to release a “strong recommendation” that Santa Clara County’s 1.9 million citizens cover their faces.
” It’s not something I can ask my associates in police to implement, nevertheless it is a critical and immediate suggestion,” Cody stated at a current press instruction.
Napa County also amended its shelter-in-place order Wednesday to issue a “strong suggestion”– however no requirement– to use a mask. Solano County likewise has actually not joined in issuing a mask mandate but began recommending face coverings at the beginning of the month. Santa Cruz County need to anticipate a comparable order by the end of the week, its health officer revealed Tuesday.
