Pass Area Schools Can Lift Face Mask Mandate Starting March 12

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA — Riverside County school districts have the option of lifting the state's face mask mandate at campuses starting next week following an announcement Monday that Gov. Gavin Newsom was loosening the restriction.

California will lift its face mask requirement for public schools at 11:59 p.m. March 11. Ever since students returned to classrooms following the initial 2020 shutdown, pupils and staff have been mandated to wear masks indoors on campuses statewide. Beginning next week, face coverings will be "strongly recommended" but not mandated, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced.

Individual school districts and counties, however, will have the option of maintaining local requirements if they deem them necessary. Riverside County has aligned with state and federal guidelines. Individual school districts within the county are expected to begin making announcements to families advising on their respective face mask protocols.

As of Tuesday, meanwhile, the state will also lift its requirement that unvaccinated people wear masks in most indoor settings, but masks will be "strongly recommended" for everyone indoors.

Masks will also continue to be required for everyone in certain settings, including health-care facilities, transit centers, airports, aboard public transit, in correctional facilities and at homeless shelters and long-term care facilities.

"California continues to adjust our policies based on the latest data and science, applying what we've learned over the past two years to guide our response to the pandemic," Newsom said in a statement. "Masks are an effective tool to minimize spread of the virus and future variants, especially when transmission rates are high. We cannot predict the future of the virus, but we are better prepared for it and will continue to take measures rooted in science to keep California moving forward."

The governors of Oregon and Washington joined Newsom in Monday's announcement, with those states also announcing a lifting of indoor mask requirements as of 11:59 p.m. March 11 — effectively ending the face-covering rules for the entire West Coast.

The announcement comes following Friday's change in guidance by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which adopted new standards that rely largely on COVID hospital numbers to govern whether masks should be worn. Those new standards — which resulted in mask recommendations being lifted for much of the country — still classified Los Angeles and San Diego counties as having "high" virus activity and urged that people continue to wear masks.

Under the new CDC guidance, both Orange and Riverside counties are in the "medium" category, so the federal guidance does not require mask-wearing.

—City News Service contributed to this report.