San Luis Obispo County Public Health officials announced Wednesday that the county's indoor mask mandate will be lifted next Wednesday, Feb. 16, one day after the state's mask mandate is set to expire.
"Masking is a simple and powerful tool that helped protect our local health care capacity during intense surges of COVID-19," said Dr. Borenstein. "Now that SLO County has weathered the worst of this Omicron surge, we can lift this requirement and look to our community to wear a mask when it's most important to do so: in crowded indoor spaces, if you are at higher risk or close to others who are, if you feel unwell, or if you are in any of the settings still covered by state requirements. Throughout the pandemic, we have sought to balance public health measures with pre-pandemic normalcy-this change reflects another such moment."
Masking will still be required in indoor public places for people who are unvaccinated and for everyone, regardless of vaccination status, in healthcare facilities, schools, child cares, homeless shelters, emergency shelters, corrections, long-term care facilities, and public transit, in alignment with the state's order.