Over the course of the last week, Sonoma and its neighboring counties agreed upon criteria for the residents of each county to unmask indoors.  All this came about due to lower COVID-19 case rates and was agreed upon by the nine counties. While some residents are wary of unmasking, the criteria is very simple: Lower COVID-19 cases by lowering the positive transmission rate of the virus. The main consensus is that each business will be able to impose their own restrictions and could still require masks indoors as they see fit. 

In order to put forth any unmasking protocols, each county must reach the moderate or yellow tier which is defined by four or less new cases per 100,000, and stay at said tier for three weeks, according to the CDC and their guidelines. Sonoma county is currently in the orange tier, one above the yellow tier, and cases are shrinking daily. In the past seven days, Sonoma county has been on a downward trend of less than 4.08% positive test rate which is down from the week prior. 

As COVID-19 cases dwindle, some Sonoma County residents expressed concern about unmasking indoors and what that could mean for the county. Ian Mifsud, a Sonoma County resident, said, “I think, when it is required to show proof of vaccination to enter an establishment, this is a way to push people to get vaccinated, as the criteria shows: The closer we get to ‘herd immunity’ the closer we’ll be to ‘normal’”. 

A junior at Sonoma State, Kallista Grainger, said, “If we unmask, I personally will still be wearing a mask. We have already seen that after the first large height of COVID-19, other counties got rid of the mask mandate and cases skyrocketed…this won’t help push people to get the vaccine…I will continue to wear my mask until cases reach zero.”

CDC guidelines and numbers in Sonoma County show that cases are slowly on the decline. The county had a low of 2.03% positive cases and a vaccination percentage of 77.1% which, in terms of the unmasking criteria, is very positive. 

The county’s unmasking criteria also includes an 80% vaccination rate of all residents in the county, which seems to be tracking positively throughout Sonoma County. As cases go down and vaccination rates go up, Sonoma County is that much closer to unmasking indoors. 

The final requirement for the county to begin unmasking is low and stable hospitalization, which Sonoma County is also doing very well. According to the CDC: In the past seven days, hospitals in Sonoma County have let in 19 new COVID-19 patients out of 353 cases, a significant decline of 3.38%.

Communications Specialist for the Sonoma County Administrator’s Office Matt Brown said, “All three pieces of criteria are equally important, and taken together mean that conditions are improving. Having a low case rate as defined by the CDC will show that local transmission of the virus is declining. Having a low hospitalization rate will mean that our healthcare partners are not overwhelmed and could handle a potential surge. And having a high vaccination rate means that most of the county will be protected from the worst outcomes.”

The criteria laid out by the county and the CDC isn’t an impossible goal, Sonoma County is close to reaching that goal and many will be unmasking once the mandate lifts. The area is 2.9% away from being in the 80% and hospitalization rates are lower then they have been. Overall, while some residents will continue to mask, others will be unmasking and looking forward to rejoining the ‘normal’ world again. The pandemic won’t end soon, but with the help of the CDC and an unofficial coalition of Bay Area and neighboring counties, California will be one step closer to once again leading the United States in its fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.