San Benito County residents are still required to wear a face covering in most public settings, as the state’s guidelines continue to apply to the local unincorporated area and the City of Hollister. The City of San Juan Bautista, meanwhile, adopted an ordinance Aug. 18 that strengthens the state mandate with penalties.
County public information officer David Westrick said on Aug. 18 the board of supervisors briefly revisited adopting an ordinance that would have set penalties for not wearing a mask in the unincorporated area. But the board failed to win enough support to agendize the item again.
“All that means is that a local fine mechanism was not enacted for San Benito County and unincorporated areas surrounding the county,” he said.
Westrick said the county follows the governor’s order, which covers the entire state, but cities and counties can enact an ordinance that addresses it specifically. He said citations would have just been another tool for code enforcement or law enforcement.
The California Department of Public Health on June 18 released a face guidance mandating that face coverings be worn statewide. People must wear face coverings while they’re outdoors in public spaces and maintain a physical distance of at least six feet.
They must be worn in high-risk situations such as inside or in line to enter any indoor public space. Those waiting for or riding on public transportation, paratransit, in a taxi, private car service or ride-sharing vehicle must have a face covering.
Other guidelines affect those in the workplace or performing work off-site, interacting in-person with any member of the public, working in any space visited by members of the public or walking through common areas such as hallways, stairways, elevators and parking facilities.
Children that are two years old and younger are exempt from wearing a face covering. Other exemptions include people with medical conditions, mental health conditions and those who are hearing impaired or communicating with a person who is hearing impaired where the ability to see the mouth is essential for communication.
Other instances where people don’t need to wear a face covering includes being seated at a restaurant or other establishment that offers food or beverage service, while they are eating or drinking.
Lastly, those that are engaged in outdoor work or recreation such as swimming, walking, hiking, bicycling or running, whether alone or with household members, and can maintain a distance of at least six feet from others are not required to wear face coverings.
Westrick said the county’s public health department will step in whenever there’s an issue or something needs clarification.
“It kind of happened in the beginning when there wasn’t a lot of clarification from the state and we’re getting more information now,” he said.
Westrick said there hasn’t been a real need to distribute face coverings but they will continue to support local businesses that have trouble acquiring them. He said they will also be supporting the school systems if they need masks for teachers and students.
“Our county serves both cities, the entire county, so we’re really big into thinking outside the box,” he said. “If there’s an industry, if there’s an entity or if there’s a group that needs that support to be safe, we’re probably going to do what we can to help.”
Westrick said that next week they’ll be getting some more clarification on opening up more businesses, which he doesn’t have details about yet. He also mentioned that the fall season is coming up and it will be more difficult for some places such as hair salons to operate outdoors.
“We’ll hear soon, I’m guessing,” he said.
Westrick said it’s important that the game plan for them at the end of the day is to get to a point where they’re back to kids going to school, people going to their jobs and enjoying the things we were accustomed to doing.
“If those things require us to wear a mask now, wash our hands after every interaction and us to keep our social distance, let’s just do that for now,” he said. “I’m a guy who’s optimistic and I’m hoping that someday soon we’ll be right back to 2019, December.”
On Aug. 18, the San Juan Bautista City Council unanimously approved fines for residents and visitors who are caught not wearing masks in violation of the state mandate. Numerous other cities in the region have adopted similar penalties for mask scofflaws.
