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From YouTube: County Public Health Dept. Press Conference (Indoor Masking Mandate Lifted) - March 1, 2022
Description
Dr. Sara Cody announces that all masking metrics have been met and therefore indoor masking will no longer be required beginning March 2. However, the Public Health Department and the California Department of Public Health strongly recommend that the public continue to wear masks in all indoor public spaces.
This press conference was recorded on March 1, 2022.
For more information regarding the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak in Cupertino, please visit https://www.cupertino.org/coronavirus
B
B
C
Good
morning,
everybody
happy
march,
so
this
is
going
to
be
a
pretty
pretty
short
press
conference.
Really,
I'm
here
today
to
confirm
that
in
santa
clara
county
we've
met
all
the
metrics
that
we
set
out
as
we
anticipated
that
we
would
and
as
of
tomorrow,
we
will
move
from
a
mask
requirement
to
a
mask
recommendation.
C
So
just
shy
of
85
of
our
entire
population
is
vaccinated,
84.8
to
be
exact
and
over
a
million
county
residents
have
now
received
a
booster.
So
just
shy
of
70
of
those
eligible
in
our
county
have
been
boosted.
C
So
as
of
tomorrow
march,
2nd,
our
masking
requirement
will
transition
to
a
strong
recommendation
for
indoor
masking
as
it
is
across
the
state.
So
this
is
good
news
and
it's
especially
good
news
that
the
level
of
community
transmission
in
our
county
continues
to
decline,
but
as
much
as
we
wish,
it
were
not
true.
We
are
still
in
the
middle
of
a
global
pandemic
and
we
still
do
have
community
transmission
of
covid
and
it
still
is
an
airborne
respiratory
disease.
C
Those
things
are
all
still
true
and
the
lower
the
level
of
community
transmission
that
we
have
the
safer.
It
is
for
all
of
us,
and
we
also
know
that
as
inconvenient
as
it
may
be,
covid
is
not
inconsequential
for
many
of
us
for
many
of
us,
we
still
do
continue
to
be
at
risk
of
death
or
severe
disease,
and
for
many
many
of
us
we
are
at
risk
of
long
covid.
C
If
infected
and
there's
a
lot
that
we
still
don't
know
about
long
covid,
which
is
why
I
want
to
say
that
preventing
infection
is
still
a
worthy
goal,
and
we
know
that
masks
are
effective
at
preventing
infection.
They
are
still
a
very
important
layer
of
protection
for
an
airborne
viral
respiratory
disease.
C
So
for
each
of
us
individually,
it
is
still
important
to
wear
a
mask
when
indoors
and
for
all
of
us
as
a
community.
It
is
still
important
that
we
all
wear
a
mask
indoors
and
that's
to
protect
each
other
and
to
honor
our
value
of
equity,
which
is
that
we
protect
those
in
our
community
who
are
most
vulnerable
young
children
who
are
not
yet
eligible
to
be
vaccinated,
people
who
are
immunocompromised
or
who
have
other
health
conditions
or
anyone
who
may
have
been
vaccinated,
but
still
isn't
getting
adequate
protection
from
the
vaccine.
C
So
with
that,
I
am
happy
to
take
questions.
C
The
state
announced
yesterday
that,
at
the
end
of
the
day
on
march
11th,
they
will
be
changing
their
requirements
for
k-12s
and
their
guidance
will
will
recommend
masking
for
individuals
but
no
longer
require
it
in
santa
clara
county.
We
have
not
had
county
level
requirements
for
schools
in
well
over
a
year
and
a
half,
so
we
don't
have
any
at
this
time,
have
it
for
a
long
time
and
won't
be
adopting
any
so
the
schools
will
follow
the
state
guidelines.
B
C
So
what
we
said
here
in
santa
clara
county
was
that
we
would
continue
to
follow
our
metrics,
which
we
have
and
that
we
would
not
transition
from
a
requirement
to
a
recommendation.
Unless
we
meet
those
metrics,
we
have
met
the
metrics.
We
are
transitioning
from
a
requirement
to
a
strong
recommendation.
C
It's
a
balance
right
at
some
point.
We
do
need
to
transmission
to
transition
from
a
requirement
to
recommendation
in
our
county.
We
set
metrics
for
when
we
thought
that
was
safe
enough,
so
it's
not
completely
safe.
As
I
said,
we
still
have
community
transmission
of
covid,
but
we've
reached
a
level
where
it
feels
safe
enough
to
make
the
transition
from
requirement
to
strong
recommendation
and
that's
the
transition
that
we'll
be
making
as
of
tomorrow
march,
2nd.
C
So
it's
a
two-part
question
around.
Does
the
mask
the
change
in
masking
apply
to
everyone,
regardless
of
vaccination
status,
and
can
a
business
still
require
a
recommended
masking?
C
A
C
So
the
question
is:
what
would
it
take
to
go
back
so
first,
I
want
to
say
that
our
trends
are
very
strongly
in
a
downward
direction.
So,
as
I
mentioned,
the
levels
of
community
transmission
have
declined
significantly
over
the
last
week
and
very
significantly
over
the
last
two
weeks,
and
the
rate
of
decline
continues
to
be
fairly
steep.
So
that
is
very
good
news
for
all
of
us.
I
also
want
to
say
that
our
wastewater
surveillance,
which
we
follow
very
carefully,
still
looks
very
encouraging.
C
We
also
know
that
outdoors
has
always
been
safer
than
indoors,
because
we
have
natural
ventilation,
and
so
outdoors,
I'm
not
wearing
a
mask
today.
I
feel
completely
comfortable
that
you
all
are
protected,
I'm
at
a
distance
from
you
and
I'm
not
wearing
a
mask
and
and
with
our
fantastic
weather.
Here,
a
lot
more
activity
will
be
happening
outdoors
and
that
will
be
really
good.
C
What
we
can
expect
with
this
pandemic
is
that
we
will
have
peaks
and
valleys.
So
right
now
we're
coming
into
a
lovely
valley.
We
can
all
really
enjoy
that.
However,
we
probably
will
have
another
peak.
The
contours
of
that
peak
are
not
known
to
us.
We
don't
know
what
the
variant
will
be.
We
don't
know
how
the
variant
will
behave,
so
we
always
have
to
be
ready,
and
that
means
having
adequate
testing
being
ready
to
wear.
C
C
C
We
still
recommend
vaccination
and
booster.
There
is
no
community-wide
mandate
for
vaccination
and
boosting.
We
have
a
booster
mandate
for
very
specific
settings.
High
risk
settings
the
workers
in
those
high
risk
settings.
There
is
no
vaccination
mandate,
that's
broad
in
santa
clara
county.