On Monday afternoon, seven Northern California county health officials mandated the use of masks indoors for public places. This is an increase to their July facial covering recommendation.Just over two weeks ago, the coalition of officials from Alameda Contra Costa, Marin and San Mateo Counties, Santa Clara and Santa Clara urged residents to wear masks indoors, regardless of whether or not they had been vaccinated. The new mandate, which will be in effect Tuesday, is based on a rise in cases due to the highly contagious Delta variant."Indoor masking" is temporary and will be used to deal with the Delta variant. We know that there will be an increase in deaths and hospitalizations because of it.The CDC reports that Contra Costa County saw 2,723 new cases in the last seven days. This is a 53% increase from the week before. Sonoma County had 684 coronavirus patients and its case count increased 58%.
