RTA | Contributed

RTA will no longer enforce mask wearing on the bus or at transportation centers.

Effective immediately, masks will be recommended but not required on RTA routes. This change comes as a result of the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) recent decision to suspend mask enforcement on public transit nationwide.

RTA’s mask requirement, which has been in place since spring 2020, has been based on federal regulations and the fact that safety is our number one priority. RTA thanks everyone for their commitment to safety and following the regulations for the last two years.

It’s important to know the Center for Disease Control (CDC) is encouraging public transit users to continue wearing a mask.

While RTA passengers and employees are no longer required to wear masks on board the bus, masks are welcome and remain an important preventive measure against COVID-19. Anyone needing or choosing to wear one is encouraged to do so.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden’s administration has been working for months to prepare people to rethink their personal risk calculations as the nation gets used to the idea of living with an endemic COVID-19.

But that measured approach disappeared abruptly when a federal judge on Monday threw out the federal requirement to mask up when using mass transit. The ruling added to the urgency of the messaging challenge as the administration tries to move past the virus in the lead-up to midterm elections.

After the government last month eased indoor mask-wearing guidelines for the vast majority of Americans – even in schools — masking on planes was one of the last redoubts of the national COVID-19 restrictions. Now, as the policy falls, the administration turns to accelerating its efforts to provide the best advice for millions making their own personal safety decisions in the still-dangerous pandemic.

It’s both a public health imperative and an important shift in emphasis for Biden’s political future.

“There is an opportunity now, instead of saying this is a disappointing ruling, they could say this is a good time to have a conversation about how we move forward in this pandemic about risk calculation,” said Dr. Amesh Adalja an infectious disease physician and a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.

“With COVID-19, I think we’re at a point with immunity from prior infections, vaccines, home tests and treatments that we can start to manage this the way we manage other infectious diseases,” he said.

Biden himself went all-in on flexibility Tuesday when asked if Americans should mask up on planes.

“That’s up to them,” Biden declared during a visit to Portsmouth, New Hampshire. But his own White House nonetheless continues to require face coverings for those traveling with him on Air Force One, citing guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The shift toward less formal regulation was actually previewed in a 100-page plan released by the White House coronavirus response team in February. Back then, administration officials had hoped that children under 5 would be eligible for vaccination by now — a move that would have eased the concern of millions of parents and provided the umbrella of protection to nearly everyone in the U.S. who wanted it.

Monday’s court order lifting the mask mandate came at a crossroads in the nation’s pandemic response, just shy of a year to the day from when all American adults were eligible for vaccination against COVID-19. The ruling sent government agencies and the White House scrambling to comply, but that didn’t stop momentary confusion among travelers as airlines and airports dropped their mask requirements — in some cases mid-flight.

The administration stressed that Americans should still comply with CDC recommendations to wear face coverings, even in the absence of the mandate. Biden’s press secretary, Jen Psaki, said as much just an hour before his “up to them” comment.

“The CDC continues to advise and recommend masks on airplanes. We’re abiding by the CDC recommendations, the president is, and we would advise all Americans to do that,” she said.

On Tuesday, Justice Department spokesman Anthony Coley said officials believe that the federal mask order was “a valid exercise of the authority Congress has given CDC to protect the public health.” He said it was “an important authority the Department will continue to work to preserve.”

But he said the department would only appeal the ruling if the CDC determined that the mask mandate was still necessary for public health. As of Tuesday evening, the agency hadn’t made a determination, officials said.

Psaki on Tuesday indicated that while the administration was disappointed with the ruling, it didn’t rank with Congress’ inability to reach a compromise on additional COVID funding to purchase booster shots and antiviral treatments.

“Those are our biggest concerns,” she said.

Face-covering requirements, which have proven to lower the risks of infection, have grown increasingly political in the U.S. over the last year, particularly as cases and severe outcomes have fallen.

The lingering mandate for public transit and air travel served as a daily reminder for many people that the pandemic they badly wanted to be over was still affecting their lives, even if vaccinations and antiviral treatments had dramatically lowered their risk. For others who are still fearful of the virus, each roll-back of pandemic restrictions has sparked fresh disquiet — and in some cases criticism of the Biden administration.

“There are still a lot of people in this country who still want to have masks in place — either they have immunocompromised relatives, they have kids under 5, whatever it may be,” said Psaki.

Monday’s court ruling hastened an outcome that was likely coming in weeks anyway. Many administration officials believed that last week’s 15-day extension of the mask order to May 3 would be the last. The public health agency had asked for the additional time to monitor whether a recent rise in infections would result in increased hospitalizations or deaths. So far it hasn’t.

The court’s order caught the administration by surprise and left it struggling to grasp its impact — both on the requirement’s end and on CDC’s authorities going forward.

“CDC scientists had asked for 15 days to make a more data-driven durable decision,” Dr. Aashish Jha, the new White House COVID-19 coordinator, tweeted on Tuesday. “We should have given it to them.”

The uptick in cases and a recent spate of positive cases in Biden’s orbit — including second gentleman Doug Emhoff and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — was a potent reminder that the virus isn’t going away.

Biden, 79, was never identified as a “close contact” under CDC guidelines, the White House said, and officials emphasized that he is strongly protected against the virus by being vaccinated and twice-boosted.

Controlling the virus that has killed 986,000 Americans has been a priority for Biden since taking office. The U.S. now averages about 35,000 confirmed cases per day, down from a high of more than 806,000 during January’s omicron surge, but up slightly from lows of about 26,000 a month ago. Those figures are surely an undercount since many people don’t report the results of at-home tests to public health authorities.

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Pelosi officiated the wedding at San Francisco City Hall before guests, who had to show proof of vaccination, made their way to the Getty Mansion, where the celebration continued. The event was also attended by California Gov. Gavin Newsom and San Francisco Mayor London Breed.

“Gavin Newsom, London Breed, Nancy Pelosi all in attendance, hobnobbing with the maskless hordes, at this extremely posh billionaire heiress wedding,” Reason editor Liz Wolfe tweeted. “But hey, let’s make sure San Francisco’s kids mask up in schools.”

“And why were guests able to do this?” Reopen California Schools tweeted Tuesday along with a picture of Pelosi in a large group without a mask. “Maskless indoors when school dances across California are cancelled and kids must keep masks on 7 hours/day including outside at recess in many parts of CA including in SF.”

In October, the city of San Francisco relaxed indoor mask requirements for religious gatherings if everyone in attendance is vaccinated, but only for groups of less than 100 people.

“People in these settings may remove their masks if the employer or host of the gathering can control access to the setting and verify 100% full vaccination of everyone in the setting,” the guidance from the city said. “The employer or host must also ensure proper ventilation, no recent COVID-19 outbreaks, and children under 12 and guests are not present, among other safety measures.”

It is unclear how many guests in total were present at the wedding, but at least 60 people could be seen in the overhead photo that featured Pelosi.

In other photos from the wedding published by Vogue, more than 100 chairs can be seen. The San Francisco Department of Health declined to comment on whether or not any restrictions were violated.

The state of California’s most recent mask update in September says, “Masks are required for unvaccinated people and recommended for everyone in indoor public places, like: retail, restaurants, theaters, family entertainment centers, meetings, State and local government offices that serve the public.”

Regardless of the legality, Reopen California Schools founder Jonathan Zachreson told Fox News Digital that Pelosi celebrating maskless while children are forced to wear masks is “infuriating.”

“Parents have reached a boiling point,” Zachreson said. “They are just so done, and when you see Nancy Pelosi and these other wealthy individuals’ total disregard for the rule and lack of consideration for what our children are going through, it’s so defeating and infuriating.” Zachreson added that children in the San Francisco Bay Area are being instructed to wear their masks between bites while they eat their lunch, and school dances have been canceled.

“You keep imposing these rules, and all of the people in power are not following them, but then they are imposing them on the people who don’t have a voice and who are the least at risk — those are our children,” Zachreson said.

Andrew Mark Miller | Contributed

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PHOENIX — Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey is upping the pressure on public school districts defying a state ban on mask mandates by threatening to cut off some funds.

The governor said Tuesday that schools won’t get any cash from a $163 million grant program he controls if they don’t drop mask rules within 10 days. Schools also will lose out on the $1,800 per student if they have to close because of coronavirus outbreaks.

At least 16 districts teaching nearly a third of the state’s 1.1 million public school students now have mask rules. A judge ruled this week that the state ban does not take effect until Sept. 29.

Ducey also announced a $10 million program that will give $7,000 for a student to use for private schooling if their public school requires isolating or quarantining due to virus exposure, orders mask wearing or gives preferential treatment to vaccinated children.

___

MORE ON THE PANDEMIC:

— Britain OKs Moderna vaccine for ages 12 and up

— New York City begins proof of vaccination at eateries, gyms, cultural venues

— Sources: U.S. to recommend COVID-19 vaccine boosters at 8 months

— New Zealand to enter lockdown after single virus case found

— Among France’s poorest, once-lagging vaccine rates increase

— More U.S. cities to require masks in public

— Hawaii’s largest private hospital system runs out of ICU beds

___

— Find more AP coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic and https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-vaccine

___

HERE’S WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:

HOUSTON — At least four school districts in Texas have closed campuses due to coronavirus outbreaks early in the new school year.

The shutdowns are taking place as more districts and communities are requiring students and residents to wear face coverings indoors, defying Gov. Greg Abbott’s ban on mask mandates.

The school district in Gorman in North Texas had been set to begin the school year Wednesday but is delaying that by a week. Campus shutdowns also were announced Tuesday by the districts in the East Texas towns of Bloomburg and Waskom.

Those moves came a day after the Iraan-Sheffield district in West Texas closed its schools for two weeks.

Mask wearing was optional in these four school districts. At least 21 other districts, including some of the state’s biggest, have instituted mask mandates, which are in violation of Abbott’s executive order banning such measures.

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MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia University is requiring masks to be worn in classrooms and labs for the next 30 days, saying not enough students and employees have submitted proof of vaccination against the coronavirus.

The university says the rule takes effect Wednesday, which is when classes start on the Morgantown campus. The mask requirement applies to everyone, even those who have been vaccinated.

While the university is not requiring its students and employees to be vaccinated, officials had set a vaccine verification goal of 80% by Sept. 1. Students, faculty and staff on all campuses were required to either provide a vaccine verification or a negative virus test result by Friday.

The school says only about two-thirds of students and staff have submitted the verification paperwork on the Morgantown campus and even less have done so on its Beckley and Keyser campuses,

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JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI — Mississippi state officials say they more children are being hospitalized with COVID-19 than earlier in the pandemic.

As of Friday, 18 children were hospitalized, and on Sunday five were in an intensive care unit, with four on ventilators.

The state Department of Health said Monday that health officials heard this week about the COVID-19 death of a child between age 11 and 17, raising the total of young people deaths to five since the start of the pandemic.

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CHICAGO — Chicago will require masks in public indoor settings regardless of vaccination status as daily COVID-19 case counts rise.

The mandate takes effect Friday citywide for everyone over age 2. Chicago’s top doctor said Tuesday that the city is reporting roughly 400 cases daily, which is a threshold public health officials say signals a higher transmission risk.

Still, public health officials say it’s much lower than a winter peak when it was over 3,000 cases a day.

Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady says no further restrictions or closures are currently planned and the goal is to remain open, but careful.

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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — A major state employer, the University of Alabama at Birmingham Health System, said Tuesday it would require workers to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by Nov. 12.

The requirement affects 16,000 employees and others working in hospitals and could help boost the state’s last-in-the-nation ranking for the shots.

Employees of UAB Health already are required to be vaccinated against other health threats including the flu, the system said, and COVID-19 is threatening its ability to provide care.

Nearly 100 doctors, nurses and other workers have contracted COVID-19 at UAB Hospital, a report showed.

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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is reinstating a mask mandate for all indoor public places, regardless of vaccination status.

Grisham’s office also announced Tuesday that more people will be required to get vaccinated, such as workers at hospitals, nursing homes, juvenile justice facilities and residential treatment centers.

All workers at schools in New Mexico must also get vaccinated or submit to weekly testing.

Officials noted that vaccination rates remain stagnant, but infections are rising.

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ATLANTA — Parents in Georgia’s second largest school district plan to rally again to try to force school officials to require masks amid a statewide surge in coronavirus cases that has disrupted classroom instruction for thousands of students.

The plans for a rally on Thursday by Cobb County school parents come as coronavirus cases in the school system and other districts around the state continue to rise.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp on Monday reiterated his opposition to mask and vaccine mandates and said he has no plans for statewide school restrictions.

___

PHOENIX — A western Arizona school district is considering a proposal to ban any discussion between staff and students about vaccines and masks.

The Colorado River Union High School’s governing board is set to meet on the matter Tuesday night.

The measure would allow for disciplinary action to be taken against any district employee who speaks on “anything related to vaccine status or encouraging/discouraging vaccines or mask with students.”

District officials did not immediately return a message from The Associated Press seeking comment.

___

HONOLULU — Hawaii’s largest private hospital system has run out of ICU beds amid a surge of new coronavirus cases.

Jason Chang, chief operating officer of The Queen’s Health Systems and president of The Queen’s Medical Center, says all of the hospital system’s beds are completely full.

The hospitals were canceling some elective surgeries and procedures and diverting emergency patients to other hospitals, Chang said.

Hospital workers are tired and frustrated because most of the COVID-19 patients they are caring for are not vaccinated, Chang said.

Hawaii, with a population of nearly 1.5 million people, has averaged 652 new cases a day over the past week and has a 7.5% positivity rate, according to state data. In early July, the state was averaging 50 cases a day.

At least 308 COVID-19 patients are hospitalized statewide.

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LAS VEGAS — Vaccine verification at major venues has become a coronavirus fighting front in Nevada.

Las Vegas’ biggest trade conference on Tuesday followed the NFL’s Las Vegas Raiders announcing they’ll require attendees to prove they’re inoculated.

The sponsor of the CES gadget show said attendees in January will have to show they’ve been vaccinated to enter venues including the expanded Las Vegas Convention Center.

The announcement came a day after Gov. Steve Sisolak said indoor venues with 4,000 or more attendees can opt out of the state’s mask requirements if they opt in to a program ensuring that attendees have inoculations.

Sisolak said one dose of a two-dose vaccination will get people in the door, but they’ll still have to wear face coverings.

Fully vaccinated people won’t have to wear masks.

The Raiders unveiled their first-in-the-NFL policy to require fans to show proof of vaccinations beginning Sept. 13.

___

JACKSON, Miss. — A top Mississippi health official said Tuesday 20,000 students are currently quarantined for COVID-19 exposure in the state — 4.5% of the public school population, according to the state’s latest enrollment figures.

The data comes from reports made by 800 schools to the Mississippi State Department of Health last week, Mississippi State Epidemiologist Dr. Paul Byers said during a call with state pediatricians.

The school outbreaks have resulted in many school officials rethinking their policies after beginning the academic year without restrictions, like mask mandates. Around 600 schools have now implemented universal masking for indoor settings, Byers said.

But there are still many settings where many restrictions that could keep kids safer are not in place — or not enforced.

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DES MOINES, Iowa — State Fairs in Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota and Wisconsin are offering COVID-19 vaccinations as the delta variant spreads across the country.

In Iowa, a vaccination booth nestled among corn dog and funnel cake stands vaccinated 150 people in the first four days of the fair in a state where only half of the population is fully vaccinated. All but three of Iowa’s 99 counties are experiencing a substantial or high rate of spread.

Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds’ policy of personal responsibility allows fairgoers to decide whether to be vaccinated or wear a mask. Public health officials recommend wearing a mask in crowds. The fair is on track to attract an estimated 1 million visitors.

At the Indiana State Fair, 304 vaccines have been administered since July 30. And at the Wisconsin State Fair in Milwaukee, 608 people were vaccinated over 11 days, perhaps enticed by the promise of a free cream puff pastry.

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PHOENIX — Five Arizona school districts have joined the growing list of districts requiring students and staff to wear masks, even though a state law bars such mandates.

Two districts in the Tucson area and three in metro Phoenix issued mask requirements after a Maricopa County judge ruled Monday that the state doesn’t take effect until Sept. 29.

A teacher who filed a lawsuit challenging a mask mandate at one Phoenix district argued it took after lawmakers approved it in late June. In all, at least 16 districts in Arizona are requiring students and staff to wear masks while indoors amid fears over the delta variant.

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TIRANA, Albania — Albania’s Health Ministry reported 451 new cases and two deaths related to the coronavirus.

That is a significant increase compared to last month when there were less than 10 new cases per day.

Authorities have made August a free month for receiving a vaccine, urging all people 18 and older to get one. Albania uses Sinovac, Pfizer, Astra Zeneca and some Sputnik V vaccines. Albania has given 1.3 million shots to a population of 2.8 million.

Neighboring Kosovo is noting a serious increase in the daily numbers. Authorities reported 1,765 new cases and five deaths on Tuesday, a significant increase compared to July.

About one-third of its 1.8 million population has gotten at least one shot of the Pfizer or Astra Zeneca vaccine.

___

TORONTO — Canada’s largest province of Ontario is pausing all further reopenings, offering a third COVID-19 shot to vulnerable populations and encouraging health and education workers to get vaccinated against the virus or take regular tests.

The province’s top doctor announced the new measures as part of a response to the delta variant that has been driving a recent rise in infections. The government says it will pause any further lifting of public health restrictions and will remain in Step 3 of its reopening plan, maintaining capacity limits on businesses and other settings.

It also says transplant recipients, patients with certain cancers, and long-term care and retirement home residents will be offered third COVID-19 vaccine doses starting as early as this week.

Employers in health and education will need to have policies that ask staff to disclose their vaccination status and require those who are unvaccinated to take an education session and be subject to regular tests.

The province is also expanding eligibility for the Pfizer vaccine to children born in 2009, who will turn 12 this year.

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New guidance from the federal government set off a cascade of mask rules across the nation Wednesday as cities, states, schools and businesses raced to bring back mandates and others pushed back against the guidelines at a time when Americans are exhausted and confused over constantly shifting pandemic measures.

Nevada and Kansas City, Missouri, were among the locations that moved swiftly to re-impose indoor mask mandates following Tuesday’s announcement from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But governors in Pennsylvania and South Carolina said they would not revert back to stricter mask mandates.

In suburban Atlanta, Jamie Reinhold said she’s considering pulling her kids from school if the district maintains a newly re-imposed mask requirement. The 52-year-old said the CDC’s latest guidance would take the country “backward” and damage confidence in the vaccines.

“If you believe in the masks, go ahead, but don’t try to tell me what to do for my child’s health and safety and immune system,” she said. “It’s my child. It’s my choice.”

School districts were trying to navigate the latest advice, which recommends they require students, teachers and visitors to mask up.

A handful of Republican-led states have already made such orders illegal for schools. Arkansas’ GOP leaders were weighing whether to revisit an April law banning mask requirements, at least for schools.

Meanwhile, Ford Motor Co. said it would reinstate face mask protocols for all employees and visitors at its Missouri and Florida facilities. The two states are among the hardest-hit by the summer surge in which the U.S. is now averaging more than 60,000 new cases a day, driven by the highly contagious delta variant spreading through unvaccinated populations.

Elsewhere, Google postponed a planned Sept. 1 return to the office for most of its more than 130,000 employees until mid-October, following a similar move by Apple to delay its return-to-office plans.

The California tech giant said Wednesday that it will also eventually require everyone on staff to be vaccinated, a mandate that President Joe Biden said he’s also weighing for federal employees.

Other government leaders said they will hold off reinstating mask rules for now.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf said he’s not considering imposing a mask mandate in schools or statewide, arguing that such orders were necessary before there was a vaccine.

“People have the ability to make the decision to get a vaccine,” the Democrat told a Pittsburgh radio station Tuesday. “If they do, that’s the protection.”

The CDC’s new guidance applies to places with at least 50 new cases per 100,000 people in the last week, which is roughly 60% of all U.S. counties, federal officials said. Nearly all of the South and Southwest is subject to the guidance, but most communities in the Northeast — with the exception of major metro areas like New York City and Boston — are exempt for now, according to the CDC’s COVID tracker.

The stark partisan divide over mask wearing set up the potential for a patchwork of regulations within states and counties.

In Florida’s Miami-Dade County, Mayor Daniella Levine Cava imposed an indoor mask mandate Wednesday at county facilities.

The Democrat’s announcement, which does not apply to businesses or restaurants, comes after Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a new law in May giving the state the power to invalidate local pandemic measures, including mask mandates and limitations on business operations.

“We have all come too far. We have all sacrificed too much in this past almost year and a half. We cannot turn back now,” Levine Cava said.

In Missouri, the St. Louis County Council voted Tuesday to reverse the county’s mask mandate, just a day after it became one of the first reinstated in the country.

But Democratic County Executive Sam Page insisted Wednesday that the mandate remained in effect and blamed the pushback on politics.

On the other side of the state, Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas, a Democrat, reinstated a similar indoor mask mandate for Missouri’s largest city.

State Attorney General Eric Schmitt, who is running for the U.S. Senate as a Republican, has sued to block the St. Louis-area mandate and has vowed to do the same for Kansas City’s, saying on Twitter that the mandates are “about politics & control, not science.”

The CDC’s updated guidance was prompted by new data suggesting vaccinated people can pass on the virus in rare cases, Rochelle Walensky, the agency’s director, said Wednesday.

But she stressed that the vaccines are working by preventing greater levels of hospitalization and death. Unvaccinated people, she also noted, account for the vast number of new infections. Two-thirds of the vaccine-eligible population in the U.S. has received at least one dose.

“I know this is not a message America wants to hear,” Walensky told CNN. “With prior variants, when people had these rare breakthrough infections, we didn’t see the capacity of them to spread the virus to others, but with the delta variant, we now see that you can actually now pass it to somebody else.”

In Provincetown, Massachusetts, where officials earlier this week re-imposed an indoor mask requirement following a surge in COVID-19 cases this month, store owner Patrick Patrick says he doesn’t mind asking customers to mask up once more.

The owner of Marine Specialties, a long running Army-Navy store, had been leery of officials dropping virus safety mandates ahead of what many expected would be a busy summer season. He even tried to require customers to mask up in his store through the summer, before finally relenting in June.

“If we’d stuck with masks all along, I don’t think we’d be having this conversation,” Patrick said, adding that he’s required all his staff to be masked and vaccinated. “They’re not entirely fun, but we wore them all last summer, and we didn’t have a single case in Provincetown. Now see where we’re at.”

As of Wednesday, the town had reported more than 800 cases associated with the most recent cluster, which started around the busy July 4th holiday. Officials have said many are so-called breakthrough infections in vaccinated people. Seven people have been hospitalized, but no one has died.

Patrick says the business drop-off has been significant, but he hopes the return of masks helps brings visitors peace of mind.

“I don’t see masks as bad for business,” he said. “Maybe for a nightclub or bar it is. But if it gets people back out and feeling safe, it’s worth it. We take care of public health and safety, the dollars and cents will take care of themselves.”

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LOS ANGELES (AP) — A rapid and sustained increase in COVID-19 cases in the nation’s largest county requires restoring an indoor mask mandate even when people are vaccinated, Los Angeles County’s public health officer said Thursday.

Dr. Muntu Davis said at a virtual press conference that a public health order requiring masks indoors will go into effect Saturday.

“This is an all-hands-on-deck moment,” he said.

Davis didn’t fully detail what he said would be some exceptions but said for example, people could still go out to eat and take off their masks only while eating and drinking.

The county has been recording more than 1,000 new cases each day for a week, and there is now “substantial community transmission,” Davis said.

Meanwhile, in Northern California, at least 59 residents at a homeless shelter have tested positive for the virus, half of whom were vaccinated, health officials said.

Of those infected at the shelter in Santa Rosa, 28 were fully vaccinated, Dr. Sundari Mase, Sonoma County’s health officer, said Wednesday. Officials were reviewing an additional 26 possible positive cases.

Of the 59 people with confirmed infections at Samuel L. Jones Hall, nine were hospitalized, including six who were fully vaccinated and had “multiple, significant” underlying health conditions, including diabetes and pulmonary disease, health officials said. Four have since been discharged, and five remain hospitalized.

Officials said that fewer than half of the 153 residents had received at least partial vaccination and they do not know whether the outbreak started with a vaccinated or unvaccinated resident.

“We know congregate settings are at much higher risk,” Mase said. “We also know there is a very high proportion of unvaccinated individuals that were in this setting.”

Most of the 69 vaccinated residents had received the single-shot Johnson & Johnson dose but Mase said it was hard to determine whether that was a factor in the outbreak.

Vaccines decrease the severity of the illness, reduce hospitalizations and decrease the risk of death. Clinical trials showed that a single dose of the J&J vaccine was 72% effective against moderate to severe COVID-19 in the United States, compared to 95% for the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. A Food and Drug Administration analysis cautioned that it’s not clear how well the vaccines work against each variant.

The outbreak is only the second time the coronavirus has been detected at Sam Jones. There was a smaller cluster of cases in January during the peak of the pandemic, said Jennielynn Holmes, head of homelessness services at Catholic Charities in Santa Rosa, which manages the shelter.

The shelter first became aware of the most recent outbreak on July 2, when it reported 20 positive cases.

“Something is different. This is different than what we’ve seen the entire pandemic,” Holmes said.

Holmes and city officials had said last week the outbreak was caused by the delta variant, which is far more contagious than the original strain of the virus. County officials said they had not confirmed that and need more time to review the infections.

Clarissa Millarker, a Sam Jones resident since March, said that prior to the outbreak, shelter staff had been lax in enforcing health protocols, particularly masking.

“I feel like it’s entirely likely that I’m going to turn up infected,” Millarker, who is vaccinated, told The Press Democrat of Santa Rosa.

Millarker said staff have since ramped up sanitation, been more vigilant about masks and started testing every few days. Still, there is confusion and anger over how the situation was handled by shelter operators, she said.

“People are upset, and they’re right to be,” she said.

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Like many people across the world, residents in Hemet have stepped up and begun making homemade face masks; both in response to a call for us to wear them by the city while out in public, and to help fulfil the need of the shortage of essential protective equipment for EMTs, doctors, nurses and other essential workers.

Whimsical, practical, and fun, these masks show us in more than one way – the skills of people who adapt traditional skills to address contemporary; and, in this case, pressing needs. Mask designs are created from an ever-growing array of sources, with the final results limited only by bringing imagination to the creativity of the makers’ skills.

The Hemet and San Jacinto Chronicle have launched a “Show Us Your Masks!” post on Facebook, where we’re calling for photos of masks that you, your friends, family and neighbors have made. We asked the Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle’s readers to share their mask selfies on our Facebook page.

We have included a few of the photos that were submitted. Email photos to contact@hsjchronicle.com, post them to the Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicles Facebook (hsj.chronicle) page or tag @hsj_chronicle on Instagram & Twitter.

This project is part of the Hemet and San Jacinto’s Chronicle goal to create an archive that documents the experience of local residents during this pandemic.

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Riverside University Health System

In response to the rapidly rising number of COVID-19 cases, Riverside County Public Health Officer Dr. Cameron Kaiser ordered that no gatherings of any number of people may take place outside of family members residing in the same home. Dr. Kaiser also ordered everyone to wear a face covering when leaving home, including essential workers. Face coverings can be bandanas, scarves, neck gaiters or other clothing that does not have visible holes.

Residents should not purchase N95 or surgical masks, as these limited resources are needed for the healthcare community and first responders. “While more and more Riverside County residents are getting COVID-19, not everybody’s getting the message,” said Dr. Cameron Kaiser, Riverside County public health officer. “It started with staying home, social distance and covering your face.

But now we change from saying that you should to saying that you must.” The purpose of this order is to encourage compliance with these important measures that have been implemented to flatten the curve. Pursuant to this order, law enforcement agencies throughout the county have the authority to enforce these orders as they deem necessary. This order runs through April 30. “We have already lost two of our deputies to this virus.

I am asking all of you to honor them by staying at home,” said Sheriff Chad Bianco. The no gathering order does not apply to essential businesses, including healthcare offices, grocery stores or gas stations. However, these businesses must use social distancing measures to keep clients and customers six feet apart and all employees must now wear face coverings. All churches, temples, synagogues, mosques and other houses of worship are prohibited from all in-person gatherings, this includes drive-in religious services.

“Palm Sunday, Passover and Easter are sacred days. The best way to practice our love for God is loving our fellow neighbor. That means staying home and observing the holidays at home,” said Board Chair V. Manuel Perez, Fourth District Supervisor. “I also want to thank Sheriff Bianco and all our law enforcement partners for their dedicated service during this pandemic and for enforcing these orders to keep our residents and essential workers safe.”

These orders are made in conjunction with the governor’s stay at home order issued on March 19, as well as Dr. Kaiser’s latest school closure order issued on April 1, latest short-term rental order issued on April 2 and the golf course closure order issued on April 2. As of April 4, Riverside County has 665 confirmed cases, 18 deaths and 60 recoveries. Earlier this week, Kaiser recommended face coverings for anyone when they leave home. Residents should not call 9-1-1 to report groups of people who are not at an essential business. 9-1-1 must remain open for emergencies only.

-Riverside County

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