Monterey County Board of Supervisors Finalize Countywide Face Covering Ordinance

The Monterey County Board of Supervisors at their regular meeting on Tuesday, September 28 gave final approval to a countywide face covering ordinance with requirements that only go into effect when COVID-19 transmission rates are at high levels. This ordinance will go into effect October 29, but it is important to know there are very specific triggers which would make masking indoors mandatory. The indoor face covering rule would only go into effect on that date if Monterey County’s Community Transmission Rate, as calculated by the CDC, is either “substantial” or “high.” That means even with the ordinance in place, the mask requirement would not go into effect if community transmission rates were not at those high levels. Should the transmission rates move into those higher rate after the ordinance’s effective date, the face covering requirements would go into effect in seven (7) days. The ordinance requires all residents, both in cities and unincorporated areas, to wear facial coverings indoors with some exemptions, such as when people are in their own homes, with family members, alone in a closed room, taking part in an activity where masks cannot be worn such as eating or where a mask would impede a medical procedure, or at meetings or gatherings where all vaccinated persons show proof of vaccination and unvaccinated persons wear face coverings at all times other than when eating or drinking. The county continues to follow state face covering requirements and County Health Officer recommendations. All residents are strongly encouraged to wear a mask indoors to help reduce virus transmission For additional information, check out this Mask Mandate Information Sheet by going online to https://www.co.monterey.ca.us/home/showpublisheddocument/105515/637684409240866128.