COVID-19 Vaccinations Encouraged
The Town of Atherton strongly encourages every resident in Town, as well as all of our Town staff, to GET VACCINATED for the COVID-19 virus, if health and personal religious beliefs permit it. The Town presently requires all visitors and staff wear a face covering when inside public facilities.
How to Lift Indoor Masking Rules?
The indoor mask mandate remains a key tool in controlling the spread of COVID-19.
The County of San Mateo, along with eight other Bay Area local governments, has agreed to lift indoor masking requirements when all of the following are achieved:
- The rate of COVID-19 transmission reaches the “moderate” or yellow tier and remains there for at least three weeks;
- The number of people hospitalized for COVID-19 is low and stable in the judgement of local health officials;
- The percent of the total population that is fully vaccinated – two doses of Pfizer or Moderna or one dose of Johnson & Johnson – reaches 80 percent.
Regardless of the above, indoor masking requirements can also be lifted once eight weeks have passed since a COVID-19 vaccine has been authorized for emergency use by federal and state authorities for 5- to 11-year-olds.
After the order is lifted, businesses, nonprofits, churches and others with public indoor spaces can continue to impose their own requirements.
The County is currently in the “substantial” or orange tier in the Centers for Disease Control COVID-19 tracker.