New mask policy doesn’t affect Tulare County

The Centers for Disease Control came out with new guidance on Tuesday, calling for more people again to begin wearing masks.

But the new guidance doesn’t affect Tulare County.

The CDC stated all people — including those who are vaccinated — in areas where there’s an elevated level of COVID-19 spread should wear masks in indoor settings. Dr. Rochelle Walensky, CDC director, stated the new guidelines were necessary due to the Delta variant.

She said the CDC is calling for all those, including those who are vaccinated, to wear masks indoors in areas that are classified as “high or substantial” transmission areas. A high transmission area is an area that has had more than 100 cases per 100,000 residents over the past seven days. A substantial area is an area that has had between 50 and 100 cases per 100,000 over the past seven days.

Tulare County is only one of 13 counties in the state that don’t fall in the high or substantial category and is actually well below those categories. Forty-five of the state’s 58 counties, though, are in the high or substantial category.

Tulare County is also among the most populous counties in the state not in the high or substantial category, joining Monterey, San Luis Obispo and Santa Cruz Counties. Still, 96 percent of the state’s population lives in high and substantial risk areas.

The CDC also reported on Monday two-thirds of the nation’s counties are in the high and substantial categories.

Tulare County Health and Human Services reported last week Tulare County had 68 new cases over the previous week. With a population of nearly 500,000 that’s less than 15 cases per 100,000, well below the high and substantial categories.

The new CDC guidelines are a reversal from May when the CDC stated all those who are fully vaccinated didn’t need to wear masks when indoors. California also loosened its mask restrictions when it fully reopened on June 15, also implementing a policy in which those who are fully vaccinated don’t have to wear a mask indoors.

So as of Tuesday afternoon in Tulare County the policy continues to allow those who are fully vaccinated to go without a mask while indoors. The state was scheduled to provide an update on if there were any changes to its mask policy later on Tuesday.

“As soon as we avail ourselves to the details, some of the tiering strategies which we’ve been in dialogue with the CDC on, we’ll make some comments in very short order,” Governor Gavin Newsom said.

Cases are rising in many parts of the country, especially in areas with low vaccination rates.