Several Bay Area counties, including San Francisco, Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Mateo, Santa Clara, and Sonoma counties, as well as the city of Berkeley, have joined Los Angeles, Sacramento, and Yolo counties in requiring that all persons, regardless of vaccination status, wear a mask indoors.
These mandates follow recent guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control recommending the same after an increase of COVID-19 cases related to the Delta variant.
The Bay Area mask mandates will take effect Tuesday, August 3, 2021, and remain in effect for the foreseeable future.
Employers located in the above counties and the City of Berkeley should immediately review their policies and practices to ensure all employees are masking up indoors, even if vaccinated, in light of these new mandates.
Stephen Hirschfeld is a founding partner and co-managing partner with the law firm of Hirschfeld Kraemer LLP, in San Francisco, California. He is also the Chief Executive Officer of the Employment Law Alliance (ELA), the world’s largest network of labor and employment lawyers. His practice involves labor, employment and higher education law on behalf of management in both the private and public sector. His clients range from Fortune 500 companies to small, privately-owned businesses.