The masks are coming off in almost every indoor business in Marin County.
The county on Monday became the first in the Bay Area to lift its indoor mask mandate for vaccinated people because of the county’s high vaccination rate and dwindling COVID-19 cases.
Many say it’s about time for the change.
"I’m happy," Ryan Atwood of Rohnert Park said. "Yeah, can’t wait to throw this thing on the ground and probably have to pick it up sometime soon again, though. Can’t wait."
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Some think it's too soon.
"Yeah, I’m still keeping my mask on," Osman Maldonado, who works in Sausalito, said. "To be safe, myself and my family, too."
Unvaccinated people will still have to wear a mask indoors, although the county is leaving it up to each business when it comes to how they police their customers for their vaccination status.
"I think people will feel more relaxed, shop around more, hopefully, and have a good time," Chris Hontalas of Venice Gourmet Delicatessen said.
People will still have to wear a mask in hospitals, schools and when using public transit.
"We’re not saying throw your masks out completely," county spokesperson Laine Hendricks said. "We’ve seen the evidence that masks play a very important role, and as we enter the holiday season, and also with flu season coming around, we still encourage the use of masks."
In Marin County, 81.3% of people are vaccinated. That number is expected to soar into the 90s when younger children become eligible to get the vaccine.
While the county’s health and human services department will continue to monitor hospitalization rates during the holidays, Hendricks said it would take an unexpected turn of events to bring the mask mandate back.
"We just feel that we’re at a place where we no longer need to mandate it through laws," Hendricks said. "Our community knows what to do."
