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California is going to keep its current mask mandate until June 15, when it will align with the CDC guidelines.
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California reached easy vaccine availability in late April to early May in populated areas (although eligibility for everyone was April 15), so June 15 is pretty much six weeks after that, so that those who could only get the vaccine process started when there was easy vaccine availability should be completing it around June 15 even on the Moderna (slowest) timeline. Those who got Pfizer could be a week earlier, and those who got J&J around that time could be reaching fully vaccinated status around now.
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Yes, this is certainly a logical and fair way to protect those who could not be vaccinated earlier, and to alert everyone well ahead of time when the rules will change. Itâs a relief that Governor Newsom did not politicize this and allowed state health officials to make the call. I admit to surprise and disappointment that Governor Inslee did not do the same in Washington.
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Illinois is lifting the mask mandate but Chicago wants more info before changing rules. That wonât be confusing 
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We have 2 (or more) levels of rules in Colorado. The state has one set of rules but the counties (or even cities) can have their own rules. At one point all the surrounding counties opened restaurants for indoor dining but Denver stayed closed. Many of the rural counties lifted restriction long ago.
The masks on/masks off info has been a little more confusing but really, you can just continue to wear masks if you want to and no one will object. We only went to masks not required in most of the metro counties yesterday even though the state mandates were lifted last week. More confusing is the retailers who said masks required/not required, and are not âclarifyingâ it will things like they will be checking for proof of vaccination at the door and no proof, no entry without masks.
King County says ânot so fastâ to the new mask rules. The county was caught off guard by the CDC announcement and by the Governorâs orders. Guidance re: masks in public places will be coming shortly, apparently.
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Marylandâs governor has always allowed counties and jurisdictions to be stricter then the state. Just as federal guidelines allow states to make their own decisions that are based off of their own specific reality, Maryland has allowed itâs counties to make decisions based off of their local needs. It seems to be the best way to go. Iâm not sure why every state wouldnât do the same. It does create a patchwork of guidelines but if different areas are in different statuses based off of their local conditions that seems to make the most sense.
Fully vaccinated people are safe and we should he giving them the freedom they deserve if they choose to take off their mask. I believe this will
encourage others to become vaccinated sooner rather than later. Thatâs not a bad thing.
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Well, no so fast. My daughter and her boyfriend, both wearing masks, were leaving a store in San Diego on Sunday. Masks are still mandated there. A car drove by them and yelled, âLose the masks, losers!â
Idiots will continue to be idiots.
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More likely, those who are anti mask and anti vaccine will âcheatâ, unless stores etc. post âvax or maskâ police at the door.
It may not matter after everyone who wants vaccine has been fully vaccinated, but that may not be true until a few weeks from now (based on the vaccination timeline starting with when there was easy availability of vaccine).
But the anti maskers are here now and changing the rules doesnât change them. My neighbor has an assortment of âBan the Masksâ signs on his lawn. They were all gone last week but then reappeared - I guess he was just cutting his grass that day.
Many people wore masks all the time and will continue to do so - at the nail salon, at delis and bakeries. In Asia they did before Covid and will continue to do so. Iâm going to visit friends and will follow their lead as to when to wear them, even though they live in a state without any restrictions and Iâm not required to wear them. If they want me to, I will.
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Sometimes seen in the US among people who appear to be east Asian. Or (less commonly) seen in the form of religious-related face covering by conservative members of a religious minority.
Perhaps some of the anti-mask sentiment is being driven by the pre-existing association of masks with sometimes-disliked minority groups?
Yesterday I had to pick something up at a small office I do some work (volunteer) with. It is in the most anti-mask, throw caution to the wind county around here (first to reopen restaurants, schools, parks and rec). I wore a mask because I wasnât sure what the rules were for that office. Sign still on the door to wear a mask, everyone still in small private offices with the doors closed (and only about 10% of the workers even in the office), everyone still wearing masks when they are out of their individual offices.
An office next door, or the grocery store, or the gas station may not require anything as the county and state do not. The head of this office, and the workers, just feel better with the masks so continue to require them.
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If it was a charitable organization, then the people there may have been self-selected as those who have a greater emphasis on caring for others. Since masks are more protective of others than oneself, that could be another reason for the desire or not to continue wearing masks.
On the other hand, a âthrow caution to the wind countyâ may have reached easy vaccine availability relatively early, so it is more likely that everyone who wants vaccine has been able to be fully vaccinated. If that is the case, then there may not be much point (at least for COVID-19 purposes) in continuing to wear masks, since there are no longer people there who are involuntarily unvaccinated.
Where my D lives, masks are still mandated. Plus, her boyfriend is not yet fully vaccinated so even if there was no longer a mandate, he would still need to wear one.
My son went out this morning on a neighborâs boat then called me to ask if I would put a cooler together with lunch and drinks. We have little food in the house b/c we are leaving town for our Dâs college graduation so I ran up to Subway and 7/11. We no longer have a mask mandate, but both had signs on the door still requiring them. I have no problem with that since there are a lot of kids under 16 here who work in retail/food. Most have not yet been vaccinated since they only became eligible a week or so ago.
Judging people who are wearing masks, even when there is no longer a mandate, only continues to divide those who believe in vaccinations and those who refuse to get them.
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That seems to be a pretty big reach to draw that as a possible conclusion.
Exactly. Sometimes Occamâs Razor is correct: fully vaccinated people are just tired of wearing masks, particularly when âthe scienceâ says that they donât need to in many situations, and the covid/govt-skeptic crowd was always against them.
Iâm tired of masks but wear them when Iâm requested to do so. Many of the other covid steps I LOVE, and hope they stay around forever. Give me my 6 feet. No shaking hands with strangers. Telemed visits with my doctor (and if I could figure that out with my dentist Iâd vote for that too).
Some will continue to wear masks, as many do in Asian countries, long after they are vaccinated.
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If you are tempted to vilify the fully vaccinated taking of the mask, the right to do now is to take it off according to
âBut there is harm in rejecting this science and the recommendations of a famously cautious CDC. Studies have clearly shown that incentives, including signaling the end of masks and distancing, would increase vaccine uptake among the hesitant. Mask-wearing by the vaccinated is not necessary based on the science, but motivating vaccination among the wary is of tantamount importance. And while the virus rages in countries such as India without access to enough vaccine, the United States has been fortunate. Masks, distancing and ventilation are mitigation strategies; vaccines are the solution. We donât need to mitigate the impact of the virus by other interventions if we can suppress it through immunization instead.â
https://www.sfgate.com/opinion/article/The-science-is-clear-Masks-worked-but-16185403.php