The Problem: Our Board of Supervisors have demonstrated their stance on the mask mandate when it was a county-wide mandate. Now that's it's statewide, we need to ensure they're taking this mandate seriously and are ensuring the safety of our community.

In Orange County, COVID-19 hospitalization and ICU cases continue to climb while businesses in Orange County continue to open. There is no other option but to ensure the community at large honors the mask mandate.

The Solution: We are asking for two things. 

1. Our city officials publicly support the mask mandate (both in encouraging constituents to abide by the mandate and by wearing masks themselves in public settings, like publicized Board Meetings and press conferences). 
2. We have a procedure/team(s) (e.g. health inspectors, masks provided in bulk to business owners for patrons, broadcasted free testing) in place to encourage and enforce this mandate throughout our county.

Now that Orange County, CA has been approved to open more businesses, understanding the importance of wearing a mask, enforcing the mandate, and effectively educating the public is crucial to keep the number of confirmed cases and deaths low.

What You Can Do: 

1. Sign this petition
2. Contact your district representative. Here's their contact info and script/template you can use.
3. Contact the OC Health Office. Here's their contact info and script/template you can use.

Stay Informed: There is a plethora of information online to support the basic fact that masks reduce the spreading of COVID-19. Below are just a few.

• COVID-19 Case Counts and Testing Figures for Orange County

Here’s why enforcement in public, generally-crowded places like churches should not be debatable:

• High SARS-CoV-2 Attack Rate Following Exposure at a Choir Practice — Skagit County, Washington, March 2020

• Investigation conducted by CDC; Published May 15, 2020

• “Among 61 persons who attended a March 10 choir practice at which one person was known to be symptomatic, 53 cases were identified, including 33 confirmed and 20 probable cases (secondary attack rates of 53.3% among confirmed cases and 86.7% among all cases). Three of the 53 persons who became ill were hospitalized (5.7%), and two died (3.7%). The 2.5-hour singing practice provided several opportunities for droplet and fomite transmission, including members sitting close to one another, sharing snacks, and stacking chairs at the end of the practice. The act of singing, itself, might have contributed to transmission through emission of aerosols, which is affected by loudness of vocalization.”

A review of 172 studies on coronavirus transmission from 16 countries confirmed that wearing a face mask and maintaining physical distance significantly reduced the risk of spreading COVID-19.

• Physical distancing, face masks, and eye protection to prevent person-to-person transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19: a systematic review and meta-analysis
• Study funded by WHO; Published June 1, 2020
• “Our search identified 172 observational studies across 16 countries and six continents, with no randomised controlled trials and 44 relevant comparative studies in health-care and non-health-care settings.”
• “Transmission of viruses was lower with physical distancing of 1 m or more, compared with a distance of less than 1 m; protection was increased as distance was lengthened.” 
• “Face mask use could result in a large reduction in risk of infection, with stronger associations with N95 or similar respirators compared with disposable surgical masks or similar.”

There is evidence supporting the transmission of Covid-19 while presymptomatic or asymptomatic. All the more reason why everyone must wear a mask in public to ensure citizens do not unknowingly transmit the disease onto others.

• Evidence Supporting Transmission of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 While Presymptomatic or Asymptomatic
  Affiliated with the CDC; Published May 4, 2020
• “Recent epidemiologic, virologic, and modeling reports support the possibility of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) transmission from persons who are presymptomatic (SARS-CoV-2 detected before symptom onset) or asymptomatic (SARS-CoV-2 detected but symptoms never develop). SARS-CoV-2 transmission in the absence of symptoms reinforces the value of measures that prevent the spread of SARS-CoV-2 by infected persons who may not exhibit illness despite being infectious.”