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Gov. Newsom Says California Will Effectively End Mask Mandate June 15 As State Reopens

   DailyWire.com
OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA - MAY 10: California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during a press conference at The Unity Council on May 10, 2021 in Oakland, California. California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a $100 billion economic recovery package for the state that would include a new round of $600 stimulus checks for low-income residents making up to $75,000 a year. An estimated two out of three Californians would receive the check and families with children would receive an additional $500. Newsom also announced a projected $75.7 billion budget surplus compared to last year's projected $54.3 billion shortfall. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Democratic Governor of California Gavin Newsom said that the state will effectively end its mask mandate in June when it reopens fully after over a year of COVID-19 restrictions.

In an interview with KTTV Los Angeles, Elex Michaelson asked Newsom about what California will look like on June 15th as the state plans to fully reopen.

Newsom said, “We’re going to move beyond the blueprint on the 15th of June, so just in a number of weeks. And that world looks a lot like the world we entered into before the pandemic. We’re not wearing face coverings. We’re not restricted in any way, shape, or form [inaudible] doing the old things that we used to do.”

Newsom added that the exception would be “huge, large-scale indoor convention events like that where we’ll use our common sense.”

Michaelson asked Newsom, “Are we looking at masks after June 15th?”

Newsom responded, “No. Only in those settings that are indoor — only in those massively large settings where people around the world, not just around the country, are convening, and when people are mixing in real dense spaces. Otherwise, we’ll make guidance recommendations, but no mandates, and no mandates and no restrictions on businesses large and small.”

As The Daily Wire previously reported, the governor announced plans early last month to lift COVID-19 restrictions on June 15, but the mask mandate was set to remain in effect.

As reported by CBS San Francisco, Governor Gavin Newsom said at a San Francisco news conference in April, “We are announcing today that on June 15th we will be moving beyond the blueprint and we will be getting rid of the colored tiers. We’ll be moving past the dimmer switch. We will be getting rid of the blueprint as you know it today. That’s on June 15 if we continue the good work.”

“In anticipation and expectation that we do all of the above and I will repeat — to continue to wear face coverings, continuing to access vaccines and continuing to administer vaccines in an equitable framework. If we keep the pace, we are now moving beyond the (reopening tiered) blueprint,” he said at the time.

The Secretary of California’s Health and Human Services Agency, Dr. Mark Ghaly, stated at the time that Californians need to keep wearing masks and staying away from gatherings where they think they may come in contact with COVID-19.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated its guidelines on mask-wearing for fully vaccinated individuals Thursday. The agency announced that people who are fully vaccinated — those who got their final dose of a COVID-19 vaccine more than 14 days ago — do not need to wear masks in most settings.

The Daily Wire reported that CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said, “Anyone who is fully vaccinated can participate in indoor and outdoor activities, large or small, without wearing a mask or physically distancing. If you are fully vaccinated, you can start doing the things that we have stopped doing because of the pandemic.”

She also warned “there is always a chance we may need to make a change to these recommendations” if things were to get worse. “But we know that the more people are vaccinated, the less cases we will have, and the less chance of a new spike or additional variants emerging,” she said.

Dr. Walensky pointed to several recent scientific studies, including one from Israel that showed vaccinated health care workers experienced “97% effectiveness against symptomatic” COVID-19 cases and 86% effectiveness against asymptomatic COVID-19 cases.

“In the United States, vaccines were 90% effective against any infection in nearly 4,000 health care workers, and 94% effective against hospitalizations from COVID-19 in an evaluation across 24 hospitals in 14 states,” she said of two other studies.

Cases of COVID-19 in California have been drastically declining since early January, as reported by the CDC’s COVID-19 tracking website. According to Our World In Data, 36.6% of the California population is currently fully vaccinated and over 34 million doses have been administered in the state.

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