Bay Area health officials discuss masking amid confluence of COVID-19, flu, RSV cases

Bay Area health officials, including Sonoma County Health Officer Dr. Sundari Mase, met late Monday to discuss masking as the region contends with a growing confluence of coronavirus, influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) cases.

The meeting was routine, but masking was a key topic of discussion, said Matt Brown, a Sonoma County spokesperson.

“Top of mind is the masking policy,” said Brown.

The meeting came as a heavy wave of flu and RSV cases, especially, have hit area hospitals, and as COVID-19 cases are on the rise locally and across the nation.

In the Bay Area, a rapidly climbing COVID-19 case-rate has pushed Santa Clara County into the high tier, where the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends people wear masks in public.

Napa, Solano, Contra Costa and Alameda counties have all moved to the medium tier, where universal masking is required in high-risk settings, including jails and homeless shelters, under state rules.

As of Monday, Sonoma County remained in the low tier, with 1,165 active cases, equivalent to about 0.23% of the county’s 488,863 population, according to county data.

The county is not under any local mask mandate, but mask guidance may change if the county moves into a higher tier, Brown said. Case data and tier designations from the CDC are updated every Thursday.

Throughout the pandemic, health officers from the Bay Area’s nine counties have met to discuss trends and strategies including mask guidance. Sonoma County measures have typically mirrored those of other counties in the region but the county has deviated at least once previously.

Dr. Mase is using the time ahead of the next update to prepare for any changes, Brown said.

If the county does move into the medium tier, it would trigger mask mandates for staff and residents in congregate settings, including homeless shelters and the Sonoma County jail, Brown said.

Some homeless service providers have maintained their masking requirements from the last COVID-19 surge.

Santa Rosa nonprofit Catholic Charities is one such provider that has stuck with indoor masking at various sites, including Sonoma County’s largest homeless shelter, Sam Jones Hall in Santa Rosa, as well as Catholic Charities’ family support site and its drop-in facility at the new downtown Caritas Center, said JennieLynn Holmes, the nonprofit’s chief executive officer.

“Most of the people we serve have preexisting conditions that something as common as the flu or now COVID-19 can cause serious long-term health issues, and they are at a higher risk of complications,” said Holmes. “And as such we always have to take that into consideration.”

Holmes said the organization planned to revisit its mask requirement in early 2023 at the end of the cold and flu season.

You can reach Staff Writer Emma Murphy at 707-521-5228 or emma.murphy@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @MurphReports.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story has been revised to address a typo that resulted in an incorrect COVID-19 case rate.