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Stay Safe While Going Out and Resuming Pre-Pandemic Daily Activities
Our community and local businesses have reopened. To safely resume pre-pandemic daily activities, it is important to understand potential risks and adopt different types of prevention measures protect you, your loved ones, and our community by reducing the spread of COVID-19. It's okay if you decide to stay home and remain apart from others. Do what's best for you. For more information about how to stay safe when going out and resuming daily activities, please visit the CDC Website.
Considerations for Safer In-person Indoor Public Meetings
(Updated March 29, 2022)
As Public Health COVID-19 pandemic restrictions lift, responsibility falls increasingly on individuals and agencies to ensure safe practices. Attending a gathering or event with mixed households increases the risk of being exposed to COVID-19. The following provides guidance on safety measures to decrease the risk of COVID-19 exposure at in-person indoor public meetings.
Social Distancing:
COVID-19 is transmitted more easily between people who are close to one another.
- Ask people with COVID-19 or any of the main COVID-19 symptoms to stay home and test to prevent spread to others.
- Implement precautions to reduce transmission.
- Improve ventilation (open doors and windows when the weather permits).
- Use a larger space, reduce the number of participants, and shorten the duration of activity.
- Consider limiting attendance to a fraction of the maximum allowable capacity set by Fire Codes (e.g., fifty percent capacity).
- For indoor mega-events with 1000 or more people, facilities and event operators should follow CDPH recommendations.
Face Covering:
Face covering protects both the wearer and those around them from potential infection, especially in settings where some may be unvaccinated.
- Presenters may unmask when participating in public meetings when social distancing is observed.
- Wearing a face covering is recommended for attendees in public indoor meetings (when not actively participating or presenting).
- Provide masks at the door for attendees who may not have one
- Conventional disposable paper masks are superior to cloth masks.
- Limiting food and drink consumption during meetings will help ensure proper face covering.
- If providing food and beverage service, individually served, box meals are preferred.
Vaccinations:
Vaccinations are the most important form of protection against COVID-19. Vaccinated people are at lower risk for being infected and infecting others and are protected from severe illness and death.
- Encourage all participants to be vaccinated and to stay up to date with recommended boosters.
- Ready to use vaccine promotion resources can be found at http://toolkit.covid19.ca.gov/
Record of Attendance:
Maintaining a list of attendees allows notification of potentially exposed individuals if contact tracing reveals COVID-19 transmission may have occurred in a given meeting.
- Consider maintaining a list of meeting attendees with contact information for 2 weeks.
Monitor Community Transmission Rates:
Risk of virus exposure is directly linked to the level of virus transmission within the community.
- Monitor local COVID-19 levels (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention COVID Data Tracker – “Community Transmission”) and adjust policies accordingly following Public Health guidance.
Additional CDC recommendations to follow to stay safe:
If You Want to Make Indoor Activities Safer:
- Pick uncrowded, well ventilated places
- Stay at least 6 feet apart
- Wear your mask correctly and consistently
- Limit the amount of time you spend with others
Why Outside is a Safer Choice:
COVID-19 spreads more easily indoors than outdoors. Studies show that people are more likely to be exposed to COVID-19 when they are closer than 6 feet apart from others for longer periods of time.
You are more likely to be exposed to COVID-19 when you:
- Attend crowded, poorly ventilated indoor events
- Have close contact with infected people at home
You are less likely to be exposed to COVID-19 when you:
- Attend outdoor activities
- Stay at least 6 feet apart
- Limit the amount of time spent with people who don’t live with you