A month after San Jose dropped its indoor mask mandate, city officials have reinstated the requirement for its employees amid concerns about increasing COVID-19 cases in the South Bay.
In an email to KPIX 5 on Monday, a city spokesperson confirmed the mask mandate was reinstated last Friday.
According to the most recent data from the county's COVID-19 dashboard, the 7-day average of daily new cases was at 496, up from 194 new cases/day at the start of April. "Our priority remains the health and safety of our employees and providing essential services to the community," the city spokesperson went on to say., weeks after the state of California and Santa Clara County lifted its requirements.
Chin-Hong said the re-opening of the economy, travel, relaxed masking rules and pandemic fatigue have all led to more close contacts which allows the virus and its new sub-variants to spread.