Hopes for the pandemic's end have been dashed many times, and it would be unwise to drop mask and vaccine requirements amid uncertainty, health experts say.
Masks will still be required for unvaccinated residents indoors and for everyone in select settings such as in hospitals and nursing homes or while aboard public transit.
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Millions of California workers are staring down the pandemic with no clear access to an economic safety net if they take time off, a situation that is deepening the state’s COVID-19 crisis and galvanizing policymakers to extend sick-leave mandates.
Federal and state measures that required most businesses to offer two weeks of paid leave to recover from the coronavirus, or to quarantine in case of exposure, expired Jan. 1. Golden State employees have since been left with three days of mandated sick leave for any illness, the state minimum, although employers may choose to give more.
With the virus continuing to infect thousands of Californians every week and dangerous variants spreading, the Legislature is set to vote in the coming weeks on whether to reinstate the two-week obligation. That follows weeks of debate in Sacramento that has drawn worker advocates and business groups into unusually broad coalitions, for and against.