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Contra Costa County Health Releases Updated Public Guidance For Face Coverings

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Contra Costa County today updated its health order about when and where members of the public should wear face coverings during the COVID-19 pandemic to align it with current state guidance.

Local data indicate that COVID-19 is spreading rapidly in Contra Costa County. The county is currently on the California Department of Public Health’s monitoring list because of increasing numbers of COVID-19 patients in local hospitals. Today Contra Costa reports 209 new confirmed cases.

The updated order specifies that face coverings should be worn in businesses and in areas where people wait in line to enter businesses, and that everyone should wear a mask or face covering whenever they are within six feet of another person who is not a member of their household, except in very limited, industry-specific situations.

People who have certain health conditions are exempt from wearing masks that fit snugly over the mouth and nose but must instead wear plastic face shields with cloth draping beneath to contain coughs and sneezes.

The order also requires businesses that are open during the pandemic to ensure their workers and volunteers wear face coverings, and to not serve or allow entry to anyone not wearing face coverings.

“We recognize there is a lot of detailed health guidance coming from state and local sources, and that can be confusing,” said Candace Andersen, chair of the Contra Costa Board of Supervisors. “With COVID-19 spreading more in our community, it is more important than ever to follow the state health guidance and wear a face covering whenever you go out.”’

Face coverings, even if just cloth bandanas, help reduce the spread of COVID-19 by blocking virus-containing droplets that come out of our mouths and noses when we breath, speak, cough or sneeze. Face coverings are one of the simplest and most effective ways to slow the virus spread and allow for further re-opening of the economy. The World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control and the California Department of Public Health all recommend face coverings due to overwhelming evidence of benefit in reducing the spread of COVID-19.

CCHS encourages everyone to take simple steps to protect themselves from COVID-19: Follow the shelter-in-place order, and wear a face covering when you go out or are near other people. Wash your hands thoroughly and frequently, and always stay home from work or school if you are not feeling well.

Visit cchealth.org/coronavirus to read the new health order, and for local information about Contra Costa’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

4 COMMENTS

  1. The store employees are always the ones catching sh…. heck from the Karens and Chips and other flag wearing people protesting for their right to die from this virus. I get that the police would probably prefer to stay out of it because there’s no clear policy for enforcement — plus who wants to slap the cuffs on some spitty, coughy loudmouth screaming about how their rights are being violated? They don’t play store employees or cops enough to do this stuff.

  2. I think a lot of the anger and confusion stems from the back and forth nature of decisions made relative to taking preventive measures. Not to make it political but yeh a lot of this has to do with the lack of adequate leadership and outright denial at the top levels of government. In the meantime more Americans die and people who claimed this whole thing was just a flu are coming down with the virus after exposure to various people and venues. Maybe it’s just me but this seemed like a pretty easy thing to keep under control — and then you had various interests start pushing for reopening and getting back to normal. And now we’re paying the price.

  3. It’s so disrespectful to the people on the front lines to not try to protect them by wearing a mask, and it’s incredibly selfish. I CARE about the people at greatest risk. No sense of community. No sense of mission. And worse than lack of leadership from the top, we have an active disinformation campaign. To quote my boyhood hero from The Life of Riley, “What a revoltin’ development THIS is”.

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