Masks to be required indoors again in California

San Francisco, California – State Health and Human Services Secretary, Dr. Mark Ghaly announced on Monday that masks will be required indoors again in California, starting this week.

From Wednesday until January 15, state Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly said the state would reinstitute an indoor mask requirement, regardless of vaccination status.

People who attend events with more than 1,000 attendees will be required to submit evidence of full vaccination or a negative Covid-19 test within 24 to 48 hours of the event, according to the state. A negative test has to be done within 72 hours of a major event.

The current rise of the omicron variant of the virus, as well as a 47 percent rise in cases statewide since Thanksgiving, has raised concerns about a repetition of last winter’s surge, according to Ghaly.

“We know that we are entering into a pretty hard time and we are starting to see some of these numbers go up in some communities pretty quickly,” said Ghaly.