California to lift mask mandate starting March 11

The C.D.C.'s (Centres for Disease Control and Prevention) new mandates call for changes in Californian masking policies.

Starting March 11th, masking in schools would no longer be mandatory. The new rules apply to schools and childcare facilities. Moreover, new rules - starting March 1st - highly recommend using masks to unvaccinated individuals - however, it does not mandate their use.

Nonetheless, masks are still required in highly crowded areas such as public transport, long-term care centres, hospitals, and homeless shelters.

Schools, however, still have the option of continuing with existing masking rules if they do not wish to unmask all their students. In addition, California is currently in a moderate-to-low COVID threat level, making the mandate statistically and logically sound. Nonetheless, the masking protocols have not been completely removed - this means that the threat of COVID is not over.

What does this mean for us?

Simply put: stay masked in crowds/compact spaces, and be smart about sanitising your hands. Common sense is all we need.

Conclusively, we are moving towards leaving COVID behind us - however - we must understand that the virus persists. Therefore, staying safe and sound remains the top priority and is still a challenge in the COVID-era.