SB County Public Health extends indoor mask mandate to January 2

SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Calif. -- Santa Barbara County Public Health Department extended mask indoor mask mandate on Friday.

The order requires all individuals, regardless of vaccination status, to wear face coverings when indoors in public settings, with limited exceptions.

The order begins on Friday at 5 p.m. and will go until January 2, 2022 at 5 p.m.

The indoor mask mandate was supposed to end on December 5 but now it has been extended.

“As we head into the winter season once again, we are in a very different place than we were last year,” shared Dr. Henning Ansorg, County Health Officer. “We have vaccines available for everyone 5+ years of age and boosters for those who were vaccinated earlier this year.  We know very well that wearing a face covering while indoors is an effective strategy to reduce transmission in the community. We have yet to see the full role the Omicron variant will play in this pandemic, but we have well established surveillance and prevention strategies in place.”

County Public Health says as of December 1, 2021, the COVID-19 community transmission level is categorized as “Substantial” in California and Santa Barbara County by the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, or CDC.

As of November 26, 2021, the County has a case rate of 7.0 per 100,000 and a test positivity of 4.0%. The CDC continues to recommend that fully vaccinated individuals wear a face-covering in public indoor settings in areas with Substantial or High community transmission rates.

For more information on this order, click here.