California To End Indoor Mask Mandate Following Sharp Decline In COVID-19 Cases

California is scaling back some of its COVID-19 rules, starting with its statewide mask mandate, which will end this month.

On Monday, Governor Gavin Newsom announced that he would let a statewide indoor mask mandate expire on February 15th for people who have received the COVID-19 vaccine. Children will still be required to wear masks in school, and employees within the governor’s office will also still abide by the mandate. Those who are unvaccinated will still be required to wear masks in indoor spaces. Public transportation and long-term care facilities are still required to wear masks indoors.

This new set of rules comes as nearly 70% of California residents are vaccinated. COVID-19 infections have also fallen about 65% from the peak of about 120,000 daily cases in mid-January.

“Californians are also increasingly knowledgeable about how to protect themselves and their loved ones with effective masks when there may be risk of COVID-19 exposure,” the California Department of Public Health stated. “Accordingly, it is now appropriate for the universal indoor masking requirement to expire on February 15th, 2022, as scheduled.”

California initially dropped the mask mandate in June, but due to the onset of the omicron variant, it was reinstated on December 15th.

Indoor events with more than 1,000 people will require proof of vaccination or a negative test. Anyone unvaccinated must wear a mask. Masks or negative tests are recommended for outdoor events with over 10,000 attendees.