RIVERSIDE – The state of California will lift its COVID-19 indoor mask-wearing requirement for vaccinated people next week amid a continuing drop in the number of COVID-positive patients in Riverside County hospitals.
The Riverside University Health System announced that the number of COVID-positive patients in county hospitals dropped recently.
Officials have said some patients entered hospitals for other reasons and only discovered they had COVID after a hospital-mandated test.
Meanwhile, state officials announced Monday the indoor mask wearing requirement for vaccinated people will expire at the end of the day Feb. 15.
Gov. Gavin Newsom said the move is the result of a 65% drop in the infection rate since the peak of the winter surge caused by the Omicron variant of COVID-19, as well as a stabilization in hospitalization numbers.
But he stressed that “unvaccinated people will still need to wear masks indoors.” The mask-wearing requirement will also remain in effect for everyone in select indoor locations, such as public transit centers, airports, schools, emergency shelters, health care facilities, correctional facilities, homeless shelters and long-term care and senior-care facilities.
Unvaccinated people will have to continue wearing masks in indoor settings such as retail stores, restaurants, theaters and government offices.
The change in state policy will affect counties that do not have local mandates of their own governing face coverings — such as Orange, Riverside and San Diego counties. Neighboring Los Angeles County has its own indoor mask-wearing mandate, and those rules will remain in place.
City News Service contributed to this story
