“The continued increase in cases is concerning,” Sacramento County public health officer Olivia Kasirye said in a statement. “Universal indoor use of masks is the least disruptive and most immediately impactful measure to take to slow the rate of transmission.”
Here are some significant developments:
Sacramento County’s masking order applies to all residents in all public indoor settings. The region has seen its daily case rate more than triple over the past month, from about 5 per 100,000 at the end of June to 18.3 per 100,000 on July 20, according to the health department. Less than half of the population is vaccinated in the county of 1.5 million.
In issuing the mandate, officials also emphasized the importance of getting the shots.
“Our best protection against covid-19 continues to be the vaccine,” Kasirye said. “We urge all eligible residents to get vaccinated in order to protect themselves, and their family and friends.”
Washington, too, is facing an alarming spike in infections. The case rate has risen by nearly 44 percent over the past week, though it remains far lower than it was during the worst months of the pandemic, according to Washington Post data.
Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) said she was optimistic that residents would support the revived indoor masking rules.
“I know D.C. residents have been very closely following the public health guidelines, and they will embrace this,” she said in a news conference.
The District previously had one of the country’s strictest mask mandates, requiring residents to use face coverings both indoors and outdoors when people came in close contact for more than a “fleeting” amount of time. Officials lifted the mandate for all residents in June.
Similar mandates are reemerging around the country. Nevada officials brought back the state’s indoor mask mandate following this week’s announcement by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that everyone to start masking up indoors again in places where viral transmission is high.
Officials have also revived mandates in Los Angeles County; St. Louis; Kansas City, Mo.; and Savannah, Ga. Other cities and states, including California, said they recommended indoor masking but stopped short of requiring face coverings.
On Wednesday, the Defense Department said it was requiring everyone, regardless of vaccination status, to wear masks indoors at military facilities in areas where transmission is high. The rules mirror the new guidance from the CDC, covering all service members, federal employees, on-site contractor employees and visitors.
In Florida, Walt Disney World Resort announced Wednesday that it’s now requiring all guests to wear masks indoors, reversing a June decision not to mandate them for the vaccinated. The rules take effect from Friday for all guests ages 2 and up.
“As we have done since reopening, we’ve been very intentional and gradual in our approach to our covid-19 health and safety protocols,” Disney said in a statement. The company added, “We encourage people to get vaccinated.”
With cases rising, some employers are taking the additional step of mandating vaccinations at their businesses. In New York, restaurant mogul Danny Meyer announced Thursday that his eateries would require vaccines for all staff and that diners show proof they’ve gotten the shots.
“We feel like we’ve got an amazing responsibility to keep our staff members and our guests safe, and that’s what we’re going to do,” Meyer told CNBC.
In Chicago, the massive Lollapalooza music festival kicked off Thursday, drawing tens of thousands of revelers to the city’s downtown and renewing worries about the coronavirus spreading in the tightly packed crowds.
The four-day festival is expected to be one of the largest gatherings in the United States since the pandemic began. About 100,000 people are set to attend each day of the event, which is being held at Chicago’s Grant Park and will feature 170 bands on eight stages.
Organizers say those attending will need to show proof of full vaccination or a negative coronavirus test if unvaccinated. The unvaccinated must also wear a face mask throughout the site.
But there are still widespread concerns that the highly infectious delta variant may show up at large live events this summer.
“We want you to have fun, but please keep all rules and requirements in mind and continue to #ProtectChicago,” Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot tweeted.
Summer music festivals, silenced by the pandemic last year, have returned as vaccines have become widely available and local governments have eased public health restrictions. But the delta variant, responsible for infection surges in all 50 states, has raised fears that the gatherings could become superspreader events.
Even well-ventilated, outdoor sites pose risks, according to infectious-disease experts. Festivalgoers are likely to have a hard time keeping the necessary physical distance when crowds are packed in, and everyone is dancing, singing, sweating, and drinking.
There is also a risk of increased transmission at chokepoints such as entrances, bathroom lines and at the space nearest to the stage where crowds tend to pack in the tightest, experts say.
To control the spread of the variant, some local and state governments are bringing back indoor mask mandates that many lifted in the spring as infections were falling.
As the Olympics entered their second week in Tokyo, the Japanese government on Thursday announced it was planning to extend a state of emergency in the city and expand the measure to four other regions as the nationwide number of new daily coronavirus cases soared past 10,000 for the first time, local media reported.
The rapidly growing outbreak has cast a shadow over the Games, where authorities reported a record number of new infections for the third straight day Thursday.
Olympic athletes and other visitors are under strict rules separating the Games from the rest of the city. But organizers Thursday announced another 24 infections among competitors and attendees, including two who were hospitalized.
The new cases brought the total number of Games-related infections to 193 since July 1. The state of emergency in Tokyo and other regions such as Okinawa will last until Aug. 31, according to media reports.
Experts in Japan warned of a deepening crisis they said could quickly overwhelm the health-care system if more stringent measures are not imposed.
“The greatest danger now is that the severity of the current situation isn’t being communicated to the public,” Japan’s top medical adviser, Shigeru Omi, told a parliamentary panel Thursday.
“If that sense of urgency isn’t conveyed sufficiently, the virus will spread further and the burden on the health-care system will become increasingly severe,” he said.
Japan has refrained from enacting hard lockdowns and instead relies on a generally cooperative public to adhere to health protocols such as masking and social distancing.
The state of emergency designation mostly generates stricter rules for restaurants and other entertainment venues, including earlier closing times. Central Tokyo, however, has remained crowded during the day, with many residents ignoring the regulations.
As a result, hospitalizations are on the rise. Authorities blame the swift-moving outbreak on the more contagious delta variant now present in at least 132 countries, according to the World Health Organization.
Julie Zauzmer contributed to this report.
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