The order comes as COVID-19 levels have continued to fall in recent days, according to federal data.
A county health officer in California issued an order requiring masking in acute care facilities starting on Nov. 1, an order authorities attribute to rising seasonal respiratory illnesses.
The mandate, which lasts until March 31 of next year, requires the use of face masks by people in acute care facilities, skilled nursing facilities, surgical and maternity centers, and infusion centers such as dialysis and chemotherapy centers, during respiratory virus season, not including patients.
“These respiratory viruses can cause serious illness, particularly in vulnerable groups such as infants, older adults, pregnant individuals, and those with weakened immune systems,” Lisa Hernandez, the Santa Cruz County public health officer, said in a statement. “This order aims to reduce the spread of these viruses and protect those most at risk from severe outcomes, including hospitalization and death.”
Santa Cruz County is located to the south of San Jose and other cities that make up Silicon Valley in California.
Last fall, officials in counties around California’s San Francisco Bay Area implemented similar mask mandates in health care facilities that lasted from Nov. 1, 2024, to April 2025.
An official in California’s Yolo County said last month that residents were advised to wear masks indoors because of COVID-19.
“Based on current wastewater levels of the virus that causes COVID-19, I recommend that everybody in West Sacramento wear a mask when they are around others in indoor public spaces,” Aimee Sisson, the Yolo County health officer, said in the statement.
The most recent data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that the rates of positive tests and emergency department visits across the United States are continuing to fall.
Positive tests fell to 6.7 percent for the week ending Sept. 27, down from 9.6 percent during the previous week, according to the data. The percentage of emergency visits for COVID-19 fell from 1 percent to 0.7 percent.
Nineteen states are experiencing “high” or “very high” levels of COVID-19, according to wastewater data reviewed by the CDC. Connecticut, Delaware, Nevada, and Utah are seeing the highest levels.
“COVID-19 activity has peaked and is declining in many areas of the country, but emergency department visits and hospitalizations are elevated nationally,” the CDC said in a separate statement.
