Back when the COVID-19 shutdowns and mask mandates began in 2020, Americans were assured that these were temporary measures meant to slow the spread of the virus. Since then, though, it has become clear that masks are more like a lifestyle for a certain segment of the population. In the San Francisco Bay Area and surrounding cities, most have moved on, but specific mandates have never completely gone away.
Most recently, Santa Cruz County public health officer Lisa Hernandez issued an order requiring that masks be worn in specific healthcare facilities. The order will be in effect from November 1, 2025 through March 31, 2026. Health authorities cited rising seasonal respiratory illnesses in their decision.
Hernandez stated that the health department may extend the order, though she hopes not to, “If we see that there’s still a lot of COVID or flu or RSV in the community,” not limiting the scope of the order to COVID.
It remains unclear in 2025 why California county health departments still have sweeping authority to reimplement mask mandates at will, with no democratic input. Since 2020, though, liberals have deified public health officials, not acknowledging that they have their own personal biases in judgment.
Fortunately, the San Francisco Bay Area has largely moved on from its mask addiction, and there have not been attempts to bring back mask mandates in broader public settings. While there is a noticeable minority of dead-enders who still mask, or even double-mask, the hysteria of the 2020-2021 era has largely abated.
The release of the COVID-19 vaccine in 2021 was supposed to return society to a pre-COVID, mask-free normal. However, since then it has become clear that people who are the most fanatical about the vaccine, are equally fanatical about masks. For some segment of the population, there is no such thing as too safe when it comes to COVID, or even lesser viruses like the flu. Thankfully in 2025, they no longer control the narrative.
