ON THE COVER
Unmasked
Behind Humboldt’s decision to follow the state’s lead in hanging up the masks By Thadeus Greenson thad@northcoastjournal.com
Humboldt County Health Officer Ian Hoffman. Humboldt County Public Health
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s the immediate past president of the Humboldt-Del Norte Medical Society, a family medicine doctor and chair of medicine at Redwood Memorial Hospital, Stephanie Dittmer understands the science of COVID-19 better than most. And she understands that the science says that wearing masks helps to prevent spread of the disease that has now killed more than 900,000 Americans, including 135 Humboldt County residents, while upending just about every aspect of life for two years. “As far as protecting ourselves, wearing a mask is still the best way to do that. And for protecting others, wearing a mask is still the best way to do that,” she says, adding part of her is concerned that Humboldt County will see an uptick in cases of the virus after Feb. 16, when local officials have agreed to follow the state’s lead and drop a mask mandate for indoor public spaces, allowing fully vaccinated people to leave their masks at home, if they choose. Nonetheless, Dittmer says she supports Health Officer Ian Hoffman’s decision to roll back the mandate. “Trying to walk that line of mandating people’s behavior is a hard line to walk,” she says. “We know what we have to do to
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protect ourselves. At some point, we have to let citizens make decisions, regardless of whether they’re good. At some point, we all have to adult.” And in comments made explaining their decisions to let state and local masking orders lapse, health officials have made clear they believe that point is now. Speaking both to the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors and at a press conference last week, Hoffman said we’re at a point of transition. “As we move closer and closer to an endemic phase, we’re going to see less restrictions and requirements and more recommendations,” he said during the press conference.
What does the order do? The new order that took effect Feb. 16 is, at least nominally, not a free for all. It still requires people not yet fully vaccinated for COVID-19 to mask in indoor public spaces, while lifting the requirement for those who are fully vaccinated, allowing them to “self-attest” to their vaccination status by dropping their masks. Businesses and organizations will now
NORTH COAST JOURNAL • Thursday, Feb. 17, 2022 • northcoastjournal.com
be left to control their spaces as they see fit, Hoffman explained. Those that deem it appropriate can still require universal masking as a condition of entering the premises, or could check vaccination status as a condition for allowing people to go without masks. What the order does not do is change health officials’ recommendations . “We do still recommend masking for everyone in all settings,” Hoffman said. “The CDC continues to recommend masking for everyone in the ‘substantial’ and ‘high’ transmission areas, which we continue to be in with our case counts.”
What does this mean for schools? The order does not apply at this point to hospitals, healthcare settings, congregate living settings and schools, as a state order still requires universal masking in those settings, which have been deemed higher risk. During a Feb. 14 press conference, California Health and Human Services Secretary Mark Ghaly said the state will continue requiring universal masking in schools until at leastFeb. 28, saying the state wants to “pause and gather more information,”
keeping an eye on case numbers, test-positivity rates and hospitalizations. Despite intense pressure from some sectors to ease the requirement in school settings, Ghaly, Hoffman and other health officials have pointed out that schools are unique — markedly different than a grocery store, restaurant or even a bar — in that they see kids sit in close proximity to each other for hours at a time, increasing the chances of transmission. Locally, many of Humboldt County’s 30 school superintendents cited universal masking as a primary reason they have been able to keep kids in classrooms this year with minimal disruptions. Ghaly underscored the importance of keeping schools open for in-person learning and said masks have been an important tool to that end, noting that California has only recorded 1 percent of the nation’s COVID-19 related school closures despite having 12 percent of its school children, an indication that masking requirements have been effective. But Ghaly also stressed there will be an end to the statewide order. “Masking requirements were never put in place to be there forever,” he said. “It’s not a question of if. It’s a question of when.” If the state does rescind its universal
