No more masks? Gavin Newsom says California mandate may be relaxed around June 15 reopening

Gov. Gavin Newsom suggested in a TV interview Tuesday that California will do away with its mask mandate in favor of “recommendations” around June 15, the state’s target date for ending COVID-19 restrictions on businesses.

In a video clip posted to Twitter, Fox 11 Los Angeles anchor Elex Michaelson asked the governor: “Are we looking at masks after June 15?”

Newsom’s response: “No. Only in those settings that are indoor. Only in those massively large settings, where people — from around the world, not just around the country — are convening, and where people are mixing in real dense spaces.

“Otherwise, we’ll make guidance, recommendations, but no mandates and no restrictions,” the governor continued.

However, speaking near the end of a Wednesday news conference in Monterey County centered on school funding, Newsom appeared to walk back some of those remarks, making a sharper distinction between masks in indoor and outdoor settings.

“I want to clarify in that context that we will be updating our mask guidelines (for) outdoor masking if we reach that (June 15) threshold where we hope to be, where we’ll be eliminating those mandates — they’ll be guidelines or recommendations,” Newsom said. “But for indoor activities, we’ll still have likely some mask guidelines, mandates. But we hope, sooner than later, those will be lifted as well.”

Newsom in early April first announced that the state plans to fully reopen its economy June 15, ending the color-coded tier structure that has governed restriction rules for counties based on their virus activity rates.

But the governor and state health officials suggested at that time that there would likely be at least some form of mask mandate remaining in place at that point, at least at the outset.

Health experts, though, have increasingly indicated that federal recommendations on masks may loosen in the coming weeks to better reflect lower risk levels as COVID-19 case rates drop across the U.S. There also is growing evidence that outdoor spread of the coronavirus is far rarer than indoor transmission.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert and an adviser to President Joe Biden, said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will likely update its guidance on face coverings in the near future, as a higher percentage of the U.S. population is vaccinated for COVID-19.

The CDC on Tuesday reported that 46% of the U.S. population, and 59% of adults, have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. The agency reported California’s those rates were 52% and 65%, respectively.

Given the timing for first and second doses, and the two-week period after the second dose before a person is considered to have full protection, those numbers suggest a majority of Californians will be fully vaccinated by June 15, which is six weeks from this past Tuesday.

Newsom has said the June 15 date for dropping business restrictions would only be delayed if there were major setbacks to COVID-19 hospitalizations or vaccination. Data updated Tuesday by the California Department of Public Health on hospital admissions for COVID-19 showed only about 350 patients were in intensive care units with the virus statewide, which is the lowest total recorded since the start of the pandemic.

Vaccine demand has shown signs of slowing in California and nationwide. But the Food and Drug Administration this week cleared Pfizer’s two-dose vaccine for use in adolescents ages 12 to 15. The state on Thursday will begin allowing appointments to be booked for that age group, opening eligibility to about 2 million more Californians.

June 15 will mark almost exactly one year since California first imposed its statewide mask mandate. Wearing of masks has been mandatory in most indoor or shared public settings in California since June 18, 2020.