Santa Cruz County currently has a "high" level of COVID-19 transmission according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as of Friday August 6, 2021. As they announced earlier this week, “Based on emerging evidence on the Delta variant, CDC also recommends that fully vaccinated persons wear masks in public indoor settings in areas of substantial or high transmission.”

We the undersigned support mandatory masking for all individuals in indoor public spaces, regardless of vaccination status. While the vaccines are a powerful tool and arguably the most important weapon in our battle against COVID, we have to work together to do more to protect our community, our children, and our most vulnerable. 

We support our county elected officials and law enforcement in shared efforts to save lives and support public health in this unprecedented crisis:

1) We urge Health Officer Gail Newel to enact a face covering (mask) mandate in our county immediately based on the CDC-level "high" and continually increasing COVID transmission that is occurring.

2) We call upon all our law enforcement agencies to enforce this mandate in their jurisdictions, to counter this new Delta variant wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Along with the 7 counties in the greater San Francisco Bay Area, we look to our local county leadership to reinstate an indoor mask mandate for public health and safety. Please take action today to order a new mask mandate, and to pledge to enforce such an order. Thank you.