Indoor Mask Mandate Back In Effect Throughout Ventura County
VENTURA (CBSLA) — An indoor mask mandate is back in effect throughout Ventura County, regardless of vaccination status.
As of Monday, businesses and other public facilities throughout the county must comply with the reimposed mask mandate, which is scheduled to remain in effect until at least Sept. 19. Ventura County Public Health's updated health order went into effect this weekend.
"As of today, we reached a rate of 28 cases per 100,00, a 40% increase," Public Health Officer Dr. Robert Levin said in a statement released Friday. Ventura County, which had an overall testing positivity of 7.7% as of Friday, joins Los Angeles and Santa Barbara counties in reimposing mask mandates, along with several Northern California counties.
Face masks will be required in all indoor public settings, including offices, retail stores, restaurants and bars, theaters, family entertainment centers, conference and event centers, and government offices serving the public. Ventura County Superior Court had already imposed its own mask mandate for all county courthouses.
Businesses, venue operators, and others responsible for the operation of indoor public settings are required to compel all patrons to wear face coverings and post clearly visible and easy-to-read signage at all entry points to communicate the masking requirements.
The county's health order was revised due to the increased levels of community transmission, especially among unvaccinated people, particularly as the much more contagious Delta variant rages throughout the region. The CDC says even fully vaccinated people can in some cases spread the Delta variant to others.
"Masking indoors must again become a normal practice by all, regardless of vaccination status, so that we can stop the trends and level of transmission we are currently seeing," Levin said. However, "becoming fully vaccinated against COVID-19 remains the best protective action that people can take."
