Anonymous
Source: Santa Barbara County Public Health Department
The Santa Barbara County Public Health Department has extended the Health Officer Order which requires the use of masks in indoor public settings. This order requires all individuals, regardless of vaccination status, to wear face coverings when indoors in public settings, with limited exceptions. This Order 2022-10 is effective at 5 p.m., on February 1, 2022 and continuing until 5 p.m., on March 3, 2022 or until it is extended, rescinded, superseded, or amended.
As of January 28, 2022, the COVID-19 community transmission level is categorized as “High” in California and Santa Barbara County by the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC). As of January 21, 2022, the County has a case rate of 180.37 per 100,000 and a test positivity of 17.4%. The CDC continues to recommend fully vaccinated individuals wear a face covering in public indoor settings in areas with Substantial or High community transmission rates.
This Health Officer Order is consistent with the guidance from the CDC as well as the California Department of Public Health (CDPH). CDPH issued a mask mandate per State Health Officer Order recommending that fully vaccinated people wear masks while in indoor public settings. The full Health Officer Order can be read here: https://publichealthsbc.org/health-officer-orders/.
Visit https://publichealthsbc.org/vaccine to learn more about local COVID-19 response or call 2-1-1.
Thank you public health.
Can anyone point me to data that quantifies the reduction of covid transmission achieved my this type of mask mandate under real world conditions? There is a lot of solid data out there showing how much vaccines can reduce covid transmission, hospitalizations and deaths, but I have yet to see any similar data for masks.
Funny, it’s been presented in threads you’ve commented on for about, oh, two years now, with data from innumerable clinical studies, and yet you continue to ignore it, because it doesn’t follow your agenda.
CHIP – can you point us to any evidence that wearing a mask indoors is in anyway harmful to the health of the wearer or those around him/her? What’s the point of all the kicking and screaming? Is it that you don’t like it when people (especially liberals) tell you what to do? Or, are you concerned you may be suffering in some way by having to wear a piece of fabric over your mouth and nose when indoors during a pandemic?
On vaccines yes, cloth masks, no there have not been.
A real marathon of buttsnorkeling by the COVIDIOTS today.
Sac, here is a recent article from NPR outlining the harm masking causes to children. NPR also claims the types of masks the regulations require us to wear are ineffective.
https://www.npr.org/2022/01/28/1075842341/growing-calls-to-take-masks-off-children-in-school
Thank you Chip, but I’m afraid many will keep there heads in the sand for a very long time, they would rather tune out contrary information than acknowledge the position they’ve been forcing our kids into the past two years if full of harm and without benefit.
CHIP – Yes, I agree masks in schools are not necessary, I never said they were. I just was wondering why you fight so hard against the mandates? Schools, yeah, I get it. But every where else? Are you concerned about health or control?
“NPR also claims the types of masks the regulations require us to wear are ineffective.” – cite the language you think says that. I’ve taken the time to quote direct language from articles supporting my claims. You can do the same.
Here, going to try it again since it was either buried in the comments or he chickened out again:
VOICE – let me just ask you straight up, once and for all – are you seriously saying that cloth masks have ZERO benefit towards reducing the spread of COVID? Yes or no.
Trump said white people can’t get the Covid booster because they all go to people of color and that white people have to sit at the back of the bus to get a vaccine. Untrue, fascist, racist nonsense.
Food for thought for those considering becoming mask deniers:
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20220127-could-covid-19-still-be-affecting-us-in-decades-to-come
This article has nothing to do with a mask protecting you or not.
Masks are effective and easiest way to avoid getting or spreading this wily virus. Fact.
1150 : I realize you are just trying to spread vaccine disinformation, so you’re perfectly willing to ignore reality, but it’s clear that all kinds of chemical concoctions that show antiviral activity “in the lab” (by which you apparently mean in vitro) are definitely not compounds that are effective internal medical treatments for people. Bleach and soap come to mind, but the list is very large.
An interesting read out of John Hopkins University on the effectiveness of lockdowns (cliff notes version: It didn’t really accomplish anything positive, and accomplished a whole lot of bad!).
https://sites.krieger.jhu.edu/iae/files/2022/01/A-Literature-Review-and-Meta-Analysis-of-the-Effects-of-Lockdowns-on-COVID-19-Mortality.pdf
1:33 – An FDA approved drug for internal parasites that has been shown to be ineffective against COVID in clinical study after clinical study is the real disinformation issue here. Stop swallowing the lies you are being fed by social media.
1:52 – Numerous examples have been presented to you over the last two years, but you ignore facts that don’t fit your confirmation bias. Google “mask effectiveness COVID”, and you’ll get 43,000 results. Here’s just one:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0269749120334862
The questioning of the efficacy of obvious countermeasures to the spread of disease, presented so eloquently (well, at least prolifically) here by the resident COVIDIOTS, caused me to search for clinical studies showing the effectiveness of hand washing with soap to prevent the spread of disease. Couldn’t find any. I guess the COVIDIOTS must be right, and people have been wasting time and water for generations!
3:07 – splendid! It’s truly laughable, they demand “science,” but then “no, not that science” or “I don’t have to prove the science says what I say it does, YOU do.”
Real bunch of “anuhlists” and Yootoob “scientists” in here……
The Japanese study was not misinformation. Simply calling something misinformation because you don’t like it, or it contradicts other information you believe, doesn’t make it misinformation. What you posted isn’t even a study, it’s article about other models and lab studies used to formulate the opinion of the writer. After two years, with all the data we have, can no one post a study definitively showing how much masks reduce covid transmission?
I was able to find these studies almost instantly. They present research on hand hygiene under real world conditions and provide a numerical quantification of the reduction in disease achieved with hand hygiene. I can’t find anything similar for masks.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2446461/
https://www.who.int/gpsc/5may/MDRO_literature-review.pdf
I think you knocking the new Japanese study shows your bias. Wouldn’t another safe, cheap drug that could potentially help treat covid be celebrated? Omicron is different everyone keeps saying, the science changes they say, we’ll here is new a lab study that shows ivermectin has “antiviral effect” Omicron, but instead of supporting it and encouraging further study it’s dismissed as misinformation.
CHIP – well, look at what I found…. not one, but two non-lab studies on the effectiveness of masks against COVID:
““Our study is the first randomized controlled trial exploring whether facial masking prevents COVID-19 transmission at the community level,” Styczynski said. “It’s notable that even though fewer than 50% of the people in the intervention villages wore masks in public places, we still saw a significant risk reduction in symptomatic COVID-19 in these communities, particularly in elderly, more vulnerable people.” (https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2021/09/surgical-masks-covid-19.html)
“We have seen that the efficacy of public mask wearing is largely supported by epidemiological and ecological data, as well as models. ” (https://www.pnas.org/content/118/4/e2014564118)
You got your study, and VOICE got even further proved to be absolutely, 100% WRONG.
Someday most people will realize what happened here. Others will probably be wearing masks to their graves.
Your Japanese study did not prove the effectiveness of Ivermectin to treat COVID. It was an in vitro study. Bleach shows even better antiviral activity in vitro. Stop spreading social media lies.
3:20 – I was unable to find any clinical trial studies of handwashing. Your studies are meaningless. See how that works? No, I didn’t think so. Projection is so much easier.
correct @ 4:04, but as Ivermectin is safe, and bleach is not, this in vitro study with Omicron should at least lead to further study in real life. Again, why are people so quick to dismiss a potentially cheap, safe treatment? They studied Ivermectin for the original variants and showed now benefit, but everyone’s saying how Omicron is different so it is very reasonable that treatments that didn’t work for earlier variants might work for Omicron.
4:33 – What you are again ignoring is that there were numerous clinical trials of Ivermectin. None of them showed any efficacy against COVID.
Already, most people have figured out that nonpharmaceutical interventions like masking and social distancing are useful in the fight against COVID. We’re still waiting for people like you to face reality, although it seems unlikely to ever happen given your confirmation bias.
“NPR also claims the types of masks the regulations require us to wear are ineffective.”
This is, of course a lie. NPR is a news agency, not a medical authority; it reports what others say. The cited article was written by “Anya Kamenetz,
Education Correspondent”. And it says “And cloth masks, experts say, are insufficient to contain the spread of the omicron variant.” … one must be profoundly stupid *and* profoundly dishonest to translate that as ” the types of masks the regulations require us to wear are ineffective”.
It isn’t the NPI’s @ 4:47, it’s the mandates and extreme power grab, particularly by our state, with the continued state of emergency designation. If the governor can vacation in Mexico, and on an east coast book tour, if he and mayor of LA and SF can attend a 70,000 person football game without a mask, if Los Angeles can host the freaking Super Bowl were are not in an emergency! END THE STATE OF EMERGENCY NOW
I guess I can’t talk about the shortcomings of the Bangladesh study that was panned by actual experts (not me). There is a reason it hasn’t been widely disseminated.
So sad for the COVIDIOTs here who obviously were getting their medical advice from Milltown Mel. He died yesterday.
SACJON Our country was founded with people tired of mandates and oppression
Gavin apparently doesn’t think we need the mask or the 30 or so “famous people” in the luxury box he shared during the Rams game. French Laundry Part 2
You’re correct MtnDrive, and this is what your face looks like after wearing a properly-fitted N95 for hours on end. https://www.businessinsider.com/photos-of-doctors-and-nurses-on-the-frontlines-of-coronavirus-2020-3
Adding to comments on stupid mask behavior, my absolute favorite is when people are in a gathering all dutifully masked up, but when its their turn to speak to the group they take their mask down! Okay, so it’s easier to be heard that way, but of course when talking, people emit more potentially infectious droplets than when just sitting listening. That’s the very time when they should have the mask ON! Saw this behavior on two Netflix documentaries just this week.
SAIL380 – I’m not advocating for the mask mandates, not at all. I’ve had only 2 points here – 1) Wondering why Chip was against the mandates. What harm are they causing. He answered about schools and I agree. 2) Pressing VOICE to provide some evidence to back his claim that masks provide zero benefit. He has yet to do so.
I’m not pushing for mask mandates. I have no problem with them, but that doesn’t mean I’m advocating for them.
834 – Sounds like Chico just needed to complain. Of course he had PT available. I know MANY people who received such care.
I am sick of the term “the science says.” It’s come to be used the same as “the church says” was used in medievil times. Anyone with a science background knows that much of “the science” will change and evolve and what is touted one day may be totally debunked the next. Even “good science” is often debated by equally competent scientists. Please everyone, finding “a study” and posting the link, doesn’t make this the “word of God.” There may be competing studies with different findings. I am never content with a single study, I like to see many of them before I become a “believer. ” And it is important who is doing the interpreting of the data. A lot of what we are debating here though, doesn’t require a battle of studies. It’s common sense that physical distance and a proper barrier on your face should stop at least some degree of infectious particles.
Au contraire. Masks have been shown to be effective against aerosolized respiratory diseases in many studies. Thus, the analogy with hand washing / flat Earth studies is quite appropriate.
CHICO – I’m not advocating for a mask mandate. Honestly, I don’t think we need them everywhere. I’m ONLY saying that masks are at least somewhat beneficial. And I’m also saying, I’m happy to wear one around family members, friends, neighbors who might be at risk of severe illness and death.
Are you anti-mask people seriously saying you wouldn’t put one on if it could reduce the risk of your family member dying?
You have no idea what I need,and no,the type of PT i need can not be satisfied at home.
If my family members were at risk of dying I certainly wouldn’t rely on a mask to keep them safe. When you are driving, do you make your family members wear a helmet? Because that will reduce the risk of your family members dying.
VOR dude shut it. That’s such nonsense and pure propaganda and lies. I wear n95 all day. my kids do, my coworkers do, my friends all over town do at their jobs and schools and i even asked my kids if they see this at school. of course the boy is the one that pointed out that your info is a bogus internet scam/hoax. sorry but cloth on your face isn’t going to give you blisters and bruises…that’s just stupid.
man you people sure are cry babies and whiners….to the extreme. seriously. i’ve never in my life seen a group of adults acting like whiney little brats making up non sense and lies to push their point home, all the while knowing they don’t even have a valid point. the constant same garbage posts from CHIP and the other deniers is over the top.
VOICE – are car accidents contagious? No. Your insistence on that analogy is mind boggling.
Mtndriver, what is your basis for saying masks worn in hospitals have been effective in preventing covid transmission? Has any study been done that has quantified the reduction of transmission you claim has been achieved? In California, and other states, so many hospital staff have been out sick with covid that hospitals have been authorized to order staff who are positive for covid to return to work, see below from MSN.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/california-allows-hospitals-to-force-covid-positive-employees-to-work/ar-AASB8vw
Amen Zerohawk! Worry about yourself, you have to tools to be as protected as you want to be, leave other people alone.
Well, so far nobody has posted a link to any studies, clinical trials, or research that quantifies the reduction in covid transmission transmission that masks can achieve under real world conditions. Again, there is lots of data that quantifies the reduction of deaths and hospitalizations that is achieved by vaccines. Where is the data on masks? How much do they reduce covid transmission in the real world?
CHIP – not true at all. Look at yesterdays comments. Multiple links. Here, I’ll do your work for you AGAIN. My gosh, you conservatives love bragging about self reliance and bootstraps, but you never put it in practice…… Anyway, here you go:
“A September 2021 study published in Oxford Academic’s Clinical Infectious Diseases journal found that surgical masks reduce viral shedding in aerosols from COVID-19 patients by 48% to 77%. Another study, published in the American Society for Microbiology Journals in October 2020, determined surgical masks reduce the amount of COVID-19 inhaled by the mask-wearer by about 50%.”
(Source: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2022/01/11/fact-check-post-surgical-masks-covid-19-missing-context/9101241002/) – A-1643672987 4 1 JAN 31, 2022 03:49 PM
“Masks reduce the expulsion of respiratory aerosols (called source control) and offer some protection to the wearer.” (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7899465/)
“cloth masks may provide some protection if well designed and used correctly” (https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/26/10/20-0948_article)
Here’s a new one, READ THIS CLOSELEY VOICE:
“Our airborne simulation experiments showed that cotton masks, surgical masks, and N95 masks had a protective effect with respect to the transmission of infective droplets/aerosols and that the protective efficiency was higher when masks were worn by the virus spreader.” (https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/mSphere.00637-20)
The claim that there is no scientific proof that masks are at least minimally beneficial is DEBUNKED.
Sac, all those studies address the effect of masks on droplets/aerosols sprayed in laboratory test chambers. It is not in disputed the cloth or other filter materials can block various components of sprays in a laboratory. The question is, how much do masks reduce covid transmission in the real world when applied to people’s faces. Again, I have yet to see any research that can quantify the benefit of wearing masks. The most relevant analysis I have come across is outlined in the piece from the Atlantic below that reviews various studies conducted by the CDC. The authors at the Atlantic found the results inconclusive. If anyone is aware of any studies that have been able to quantify the benefits of mask wearing in the real world, I would really like to see them, please provide links.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/01/kids-masks-schools-weak-science/621133/
In addition to all the formal medical studies showing the effectiveness of masks against airborne respiratory viruses, as well as things like particulate pollution, the real world experience of the last two years has shown indisputably that masks reduce transmission of SARS-nCov-2. Areas with low compliance to nonpharmaceutical public health interventions show higher rates of disease. Medical professionals mask up to reduce the threat of transmission, both to themselves and to their patients. To say otherwise is to lie.
I understand your points. But why would people’s confidence be eroded just because we now have plenty of N95s and no longer need to reserve them for health professionals? Is that such a difficult concept?
I just have to jump in here with this never ending mask debate. First, note, I am pro-mask wearing, always have been. Second I know this is “anectodal” but I’ll point it out anyway because I am more interested in truth and being objective than just clinging to something that may be unnecessary. I traveled to the east coast over the holidays. I was chagrined that hardly anyone was wearing masks, and that there was no mandate. When Omicron started spreading and cases going up, where I had been did not have as dramatic numbers and increases as even here in SB where there WAS a mandate and most people were wearing masks [at least I assume so b/c that is how it was before I left]. So, that is puzzling to me. Same as when last year, CA which had highest mask compliance, was one of the worst hit with the Winter huge surge we had. Sorry but that makes me scratch my head. I will still wear my mask b/c I wear a KN 95 and I think it does help and I am not interested in getting sick, period, especially with Covid [or getting long Covid] and I don’t want to sicken others who may not survive or get hit hard but, I do have to wonder being someone willing to stay objective.
Masks help. Period.
Sac.
You really are.
I need specific therapy that can not be done with some roll and instructions for you to take home and do without supervision.
That is NOT real P.T.
I am a High Functioning Quad.
Of course you don’t know the definition until you G it.
If you, Sac, have an extra 30,000$ sitting around you don’t need, I could then buy the special equipment and then maybe find a specialist.
My ins. would cover the specialist.
So yes all this time. an operating neurological system(mine) is failing because of not being able to attend PT that is essential so I can get around.
Sorry if that sounds like,complaining but you “mask all the time everywhere” folks are slowly killing me.
I still have never tested positive yet have to put up with rules from fools.
While the debate continues, what I see is a lot of people losing confidence in government mandates. Travelling around CA, and seeing what is going on in other states, I see a lot of folks just ignoring the public health advice about masks. The latest change, advocating N95 masks, contrary to previous advice to preserve N95 masks for health professionals, has only eroded confidence. Even the Biden Admin is laying the groundwork to repeal the mandates. If they don’t acknowledge the trend, the mandates will just die of neglect. Better to have an organized draw-down, I think. Time to recognize the disease is endemic, and not subject to eradication.
Sac, you’re arguing facts with some that don’t get facts and reality bud….just let it go. better for your blood pressure. i’m with you, for sure…but these folks will come up with some of the dumbest notions and conspiracies that I don’t think they even truly believe.
i cringed at doing it…but it was appropriate at the time hahahaha
man you people sure are cry babies and whiners….to the extreme. seriously. i’ve never in my life seen a group of adults acting like whiney little brats making up non sense and lies to push their point home, all the while knowing they don’t even have a valid point. the constant same garbage posts from CHIP and the other deniers is over the top.
I had a similar experience…except two different states. However, blue state #1 also had high numbers.
Purple state #2 (I was in a red area) – no masks, lots of parties, lower rates than here HOWEVER – this area had a VERY LARGE delta surge (like, 10x ours) that occurred in October and November. So their Omicron surge was not comparatively large. It was about the same (new cases/day) at the Omicron peak as it was in the Delta peak.
Our Delta peak was in August, so I think that some of the difference is simply how much natural immunity was floating around from prior infections.
Plus, cloth masks don’t seem to be particularly effective against Omicron.
So many comments, so many grammatical errors and misspelled words. How can anyone trust what you say if you can’t even conjugate properly or at minimum choose the proper their/there. Just wear a stupid mask. We all do things to placate the needy. Key to a peaceful life is compromise and balance.
Well, looks like the state of california is going to let it’s mask mandate expire effective 2/15. Will Santa Barbara county follow suit?
They have said K-12 will keep masking. Hopefully they change that and make masks option for school after Spring Break. Considering our school board…it’s probably a 50/50 at best…
Let’s hope sanity prevails and we retain masking until infections subside to a more manageable level. We have already experienced enough cycles of massive infection, impose health measures, relax measures too early, followed by massive infection, …
Who downvotes this??? Chip is simply pointing out a fact (California is dropping the mask mandate) and wondering if SB county will let the mandate expire as well. That’s an important thing to know (mask mandate ending) and an incredibly important question as to what SB County will do!!!
As usual, some people see only what they want to see. Don’t be a fool. The indoor mask mandate is being lifted only for those who are vaccinated. Also, there will still be mask requirements for everyone in certain settings, like public transit and nursing homes.
It should have never been our kids responsibility to placate the needy. Comprise and balance were nowhere to be found in California throughout the pandemic.
Wow! 10% of the class tested positive… but… but… but… they were all wearing masks! Thank god for masks otherwise the entire class would have ended up in the hospital.
@10:50, it’s almost as if…. all those “health measures” didn’t have an impact….
MM1970 – did the 10% get infected while in class and wearing masks? Is it conceivable that they were infected outside of the masked environment? Kind of like a year ago when some here were hollering about how teachers who died of covid didn’t get it in the classroom, therefore it was safe to be in class. Well, now they want the opposite to be true – the only place those 10% of the kids got covid was while wearing masks in the classroom – “therefore masks don’t work at all.”
11:18 – For once, you’re close to being correct! Yes, if you stop your health precautions too soon, they don’t work. The virus also works really well, is the problem. Instant gratification is not a good policy in a pandemic like this one.
10:59 – Thanks for providing a prompt, concise example of the grammatical errors and misspellings so prevalent in the COVIDIOT rants.
why should the kids get a free pass? The responsibility belongs to every American citizen. This is what adulting looks like and sometimes you just have to suck it up. They can’t even eat peanut butter sandwiches in school anymore = placating the needy.