As of November 1, several counties in the Bay Area will reinstate mask mandates for hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, and other healthcare settings. This decision comes as the annual cold and flu season approaches, with the new health order requiring masks to be worn from November 1, 2024, to March 31, 2025.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the purpose of the mask mandate is to reduce the spread of influenza, COVID-19, and other respiratory viruses in medical environments during the winter virus season, which typically runs from late fall to early spring.
In most cases, the mask requirement will primarily apply to healthcare workers and aligns with last year’s local health order for the 2023-24 winter virus season. However, in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties, the mask mandate will extend to include visitors and patients in healthcare facilities as well.
Although many COVID-19 mandates have faded, this mask order—despite its limited scope and duration—remains one of the few regulations still in place post-pandemic. Here are the details of the mask mandates across various counties in the Bay Area:
– San Francisco has not yet issued a health order regarding masks for the winter respiratory season. Last year, the requirement for healthcare workers to wear masks was in effect from November 1 to April 30.
– Alameda County implemented a health order on September 26 requiring healthcare workers to wear masks from November 1 to March 31. This mandate applies in both Alameda County and the City of Berkeley and covers hospitals, mental health facilities, skilled nursing homes, dialysis centers, and infusion centers. According to the order, staff must wear masks in areas providing care to hospitalized patients or residents, though those facing outpatient clients are exempt.
– In Contra Costa County, a health order issued on September 26 mandates that healthcare workers wear masks from November 1, 2024, to March 31, 2025, in settings including hospitals, dialysis centers, infusion centers, chemotherapy centers, and skilled nursing facilities whenever they are in enclosed spaces with patients.
– Santa Clara County requires all individuals in healthcare facilities, including healthcare workers, patients, and visitors, to wear masks in patient care areas from November 1 to March 31, 2025. Children under two years old and individuals for whom wearing a mask could cause breathing difficulties are exempt from this requirement.
– San Mateo County issued a health order on October 1 mandating that staff in skilled nursing facilities wear masks from November 1 to March 31 of the following year. Visitors will also need to wear masks, though hospitalized patients are not required to do so. Healthcare workers and visitors must wear masks in frequently accessed patient areas, including wards, lobbies, hallways, waiting rooms, examination rooms, and elevators, but they are exempt in administrative offices, gift shops, or cafeterias.
– Napa County’s health order, published on October 1, requires that healthcare workers in residential facilities—including hospitals and psychiatric hospitals—and high-risk outpatient areas, such as dialysis and infusion centers, wear masks from November 1 to March 31.
– Marin County, Sonoma County, and Solano County do not plan to issue any mask-related health orders this year.
