CALIFORNIA—The state of California reinstated a statewide mask mandate beginning Wednesday, December 15 and ending January 15, 2022. State officials have cited a 50 percent increase in COVID-19 cases since Thanksgiving as the reason for the mandate.
Under the direction of Governor Gavin Newsom, California Director of Health and Human Services, Mark Ghaly made the following statement on December 13:
“We will require universal masking in indoor settings, statewide. We know people are tired and hungry for normalcy, frankly, I am too. That said, this is a critical time where we have a tool that we know has worked. We are proactively putting this tool of universal indoor masking in public settings in place to ensure we get through a time of joy and hope without a darker cloud of concern and despair.”
Those who are not vaccinated will face tougher restrictions. Any unvaccinated individual who plans on attending an indoor event expecting 1,000 or more attendees will be required to provide proof of a negative COVID test within one day prior to the event.
The new mandate for the unvaccinated will replace a previous mandate that required a negative test within 72 hours of attending an event drawing a crowd of 1,000 or more.
According to California’s health officials, residents will be required to wear a mask indoors regardless of their vaccination status.
California Governor Gavin Newsom compared Florida’s handling of the pandemic with California while speaking to James Corden of the “Late Late Show” on December 10.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was commended by former President Donald Trump after statistics showed Florida to have the lowest number of cases of COVID-19. DeSantis has publicly spoken out against both mask and vaccine mandates.
.@GavinNewsom compares California's handling of the pandemic to the state of Florida:
"California's example vs. Florida is not even close, if you care about life and the economy." pic.twitter.com/APMGS6I4oA
— The Late Late Show with James Corden (@latelateshow) December 10, 2021
In 2020, families were encouraged not to gather for the holidays by Dr. Anthony Fauci, leader of the coronavirus task force. According to reports, the mask mandate is being reinstated as public health officials warn about the new COVID-19 variant, Omicron.
On December 14, Dr. Fauci issued a warning regarding Omicron saying that it, “Will for sure become dominant in the U.S.”
There is one documented death due to the Omicron variant in the UK.
