No person can be prevented from wearing a mask as a condition of participating in an activity or entering a business. Everyone should continue to wear masks in the. Get tested for COVID-19 if you may have been exposed. It's available and confidential to everyone in California.
Representatives from Orange County's 28 independent school districts and dozens of charter schools were contacted Tuesday to inform them that supplies were ready to be picked up. The OECD continues to monitor the latest developments related to COVID-19, following guidelines from the California Department of Public Health and the Orange County Health Care Agency. It's important to note that Orange County has not authorized home kitchen permitting for food retail operations at this time. With case counts rising to levels never seen before, the OC Health Care Agency confirmed Orange County's third COVID-related pediatric death this week.
According to this week's recently updated guidance from the California Department of Public Health, indoor masks are no longer required for most workers starting Tuesday, March 1.San Bernardino and Orange counties came out of the purple tier Sunday, the most restrictive of California's color codes to reopen the plan, clearing the way for restaurants to resume indoor dining at 25% capacity. In December, amid the first reports of the rapidly spreading Omicron variant, the California Department of Public Health announced that temporary use of masks would be required in all closed public settings, regardless of vaccination status. Governor Newsom has allowed Orange County to resume operations, such as eating at restaurants and visiting shopping malls, as long as state health measures are followed. Three large trucks carrying rapid COVID-19 antigen tests from the California Department of Public Health arrived at OECD offices Wednesday morning, but additional shipments will be needed to cover all Orange County students.
Julie Roney, OECD STEM coordinator who has assisted in several classrooms in the Orange Unified School District, said the highlight has been seeing the appreciation of students and staff. Individuals who work or live in Orange County have self-collection kits available for at-home COVID-19 testing at no cost. Meanwhile, as some other counties reported similar problems, department staff were working to have available tests distributed to local districts and schools as soon as possible, reviewing immediate allocations based on available inventory. If the numbers tend to rise to the high level of community transmission, Orange County will reserve the right to modify the mask mandate to re-require masks in public and indoor spaces.
