When California Public Health officials announced that the California economy fully re-opened on Tuesday, June 14, they cautioned that COVID-19 is still with us, and that while a majority of the emergency orders put in place since March of 2020 were rescinded, the rules regarding masks were only loosened, not eliminated.

What that means for Sutter County residents is that while social distancing requirements and capacity limits on indoor restaurants and other retail establishments have been eliminated, under some circumstances they will be asked to continue to mask up even if they are vaccinated—on public transit, in health care settings, at school and in childcare settings when indoors, in correctional and detention facilities, and in homeless shelters and emergency shelters.

And the state continues to require masks to be worn by unvaccinated individuals in indoor public settings and businesses, including restaurants, retail establishments, theatres, family entertainment centers, meetings, and in state and local offices serving the public.

This puts businesses and venue operators in the position of doing one of three things to comply with the state mandate: allow patrons to self-attest they are vaccinated; require proof of vaccination; or simply require all patrons to continue to wear masks. Clearly, then, you may encounter different rules at different locations. Sutter County officials hope residents will show patience as business owners and members of the public negotiate the new COVID-19 landscape.

On Thursday, CalOSHA regulators voted to allow fully vaccinated workers to take off their masks while at the workplace. This decision may help employers decide what direction to take in their individual businesses.

While asking residents to follow state and local public health orders, Sutter County used $4 million of federal COVID relief funds to provide well over 150 grants to aid local businesses, several non-profits, and parents needing child care. The end of the tier system is a good sign for the economy, but something that could not be accomplished without residents doing their part.

“I want to thank Sutter County residents for paying attention to the public health messaging, for wearing masks, for social distancing, for getting vaccinated, for suffering through all the inconveniences of the past 15 months,” said Sutter County Board of Supervisors Chairman Dan Flores. “This was harder on some of us than others, and some suffered in different ways. There were those who lost businesses, and there were those who lost family members.”

Flores praised public health staff for its work in monitoring and responding to the pandemic in a difficult political climate. “The tension between necessary public health orders and experienced loss of freedoms has roiled the community here as much as anywhere else in California,” Flores said. “There is one important difference here, however. Thanks to the work of public health staff, thanks to public health messaging, thanks to the response of the community members, and thanks to the local medical community, we’ve come through this period with fewer deaths per capita—and with fewer deaths among those who were infected—than California as a whole, and with half the deaths per capita as the rest of the United States.

“There have been many strong feelings expressed in very strong words, with a wide variety of sincere opinions about what course of action should be taken. The bottom line is that had Sutter and Yuba counties performed only to the level of the rest of the country, there would be about 150 more families who would have lost a loved one. Let’s continue the good work together. And let’s all try to be respectful as we emerge from a very dark time into a new period of optimism.”

For more information about the guidance for the use of face coverings: https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/Pages/COVID-19/guidance-for-face-coverings.aspx

To learn more about vaccines or to register for a shot: https://www.suttercounty.org/government/county-departments/health-and-human-services/public-health-branch/covid-19-information/covid-vaccine