BENICIA, Calif. (KRON) – One city is taking matters into its own hands when it comes to masking.
Solano County is the only county in the Bay Area without a mask mandate, but Benicia is considering implementing one.
On Tuesday, city council will be voting on a resolution to require face masks in indoor settings.
Mariana Moore has lived in the city for more than 40 years.
She says she loves it here but thinks they need to do more to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
“If you follow the news at all and you follow the science you have to wear masks. I have kids in school and they’re wearing masks. The teachers are wearing masks.”
Mayor Steve Young tells KRON4 he’s been hearing similar calls for a mask mandate from other Benicia residents – and since the county isn’t going to implement one, he’s looking to do it on the city level.
“It’s frustrating to feel like on one hand we’re out of step with the rest of the county but perhaps another way to look at it is Solano County is out of step with the larger Bay Area community.”
Mayor Young says back at the beginning of the pandemic, the city had to institute a mask mandate on their own as well because health leaders wouldn’t do it on the county level.
“We are more likely to follow the lead of what we perceive to be the scientific consensus on masks.”
Moore says she hopes to see the county put this into effect this week.
“I just hope everyone thinks about how to not only take care of their own needs and their own desires but what we can do as a community. That’s what we have to do to beat this.”
The resolution to requiring masks was just introduced last week and it will be voted on this Tuesday at the city council meeting.
The mayor says they need three votes to pass the resolution.
He told KRON4 News he will be voting for it, the vice mayor will also be voting in favor, so they only need one more vote. He says based on conversations he’s had, he believes they’ll get it.
BENICIA, Calif. (KGO) — This week the City of Benicia, which is in Solano County, could go against county recommendations and implement an indoor mask mandate.
It’s something that all other Bay Area counties have already done but Solano County has not and the move would be a rare one, with the city going against their county recommendations.
“I think the feeling on the City Council is, despite Solano County’s unwillingness to move in this direction, that we have an obligation to try to further protect health and safety,” says Benicia Mayor Steve Young.
Young telling us that this week the city council will look at implementing an indoor mask mandate for everyone, including those vaccinated, due to rising COVID-19 numbers, something Solano County has not done.
“If wearing the mask inside is what we need to do to bring the rates back down and keep us all safe, I think it’s what we need to do,” says Virginia Barrazi who was walking through downtown Benicia Sunday.
Earlier this month we spoke with the Solano County Health Officer who explained why they chose not to implement indoor masking.
“The data don’t support the need for such a mandate. This disease in our county is very clearly spreading during/through social events, people who are going to parties, barbecues, picnics, campouts,” said Dr. Bela Matyas.
While many here are now supportive of an indoor mask mandate.
“I think it’s important to wear a mask inside, especially when people are not getting vaccinated, there’s young kids to think about,” said Ankita Saxena who was wearing her mask outside when we spoke with her.
“We haven’t had a whole lot of issue with people not wanting to wear a mask inside the store,” said Lisa Bellini of the Angel Heart 4 You store in downtown Benicia.
Some though are totally against it.
“If the mandate goes into effect, will you wear a mask?” we asked one man in Benicia to which he replied, “Hell no, hell no, it’s complete garbage, the virus is up here one minute and down here the next minute,” said Rick Chase who is against mask wearing, vaccinations, and doesn’t believe that COVID-19 is what it’s made out to be.
Mayor Young says he knows that some are against an indoor mask mandate but believes it is the right thing to do at this time. Even saying that he believes the City of Vallejo may soon look at an indoor mask mandate too.
“For a lot of us the individual right stops when public health is impacted by that and I think that’s where we are,” says Mayor Young.
The Benicia City Council will take up the possibility of an indoor mask mandate for all in their meeting on Tuesday at 6 p.m.
Eight good reasons to enact the strongest policy possible
Benicia resident, Stephen Golub
Dear Mayor Young, Vice Mayor Campbell, and Council Members Strawbridge, Largaespada and Macenski:
I am writing to urge that:
consistent with the eight other Bay Area counties, the City Council adopt a very strong indoor mask mandate for Benicia when it considers a resolution regarding this matter at its August 24, 2021 meeting;
it take into account the overwhelming evidence in favor of masks, as exemplified by a compilation of 49 (mostly) peer reviewed studies (a few of which in turn reviewed hundreds of other studies) documenting the effectiveness of masks against Covid-19;
conversely, the Council view with appropriate skepticism testimony from Solano County Health Officer Bela T. Matyas, should he weigh in against the mandate, given that
for much of the pandemic, his office has apparently ignored or discounted the expertise of the eight other Bay Area counties’ health departments as well as the CDC and many other experts regarding Covid-19 policies and
Solano’s being consistently out of step with other Bay Area counties, the CDC and many experts, and
Solano’s (perhaps resultantly) poor case and hospitalization track record relative to those other counties;
it consider the strong possibility that the failure to adopt a mask mandate could undercut Benicia businesses, tourism and even property values, as many individuals and families who might consider shopping or moving here could look askance at a city that rejects a policy adopted throughout the Bay Area, in many other California and U.S. cities, and even in such parts of the country as Louisiana;
the Council appreciate that an indoor mask mandate will make life easier and safer for the many Benicians staffing or considering returning to work in our stores and restaurants, including the young woman who thanked me for wearing a mask in her shop despite the sign outside saying that vaccinated persons (such as myself) need not do so; and
the Council decides in favor of protecting all of us, particularly but not only the immunocompromised and children too young to be vaccinated.
I am not a health professional. But as a concerned Benician, it seems clear that the indoor mask mandate will help save Benicians’ health and conceivably even their lives.
So, please adopt the strongest policy possible. If you reject the mandate, your legacy could well be, “They voted for Covid.”
Vallejo Times-Herald, by Richard Freedman, August 21, 2021
Women wear masks as they talk on a bench outside of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in downtown Benicia on Friday. (Chris Riley/Times-Herald)
The Benicia City Council is expected to re-instate mask mandates — vaccinated or not — for entering businesses in a vote of its five members at Tuesday night’s meeting.
Despite an increase in COVID cases traced to the Delta variant, Solano County has not joined other Bay Area counties in requiring masks for all. Current protocols dictate those who have been vaccinated don’t need to mask up while those who aren’t vaccinated are asked to mask.
“The fact the county is not going to have one (mask mandate for all) puts the pressure on cities like Benicia to act on our own,” said Mayor Steve Young by phone Friday.
Young said Dr. Bela Matyas, Solano County Public Health Director, is expected to “testify” either in person or by phone during the upcoming Benicia council meeting.
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Benicia Mayor Steve Young
“We have eight different (county) public health directors determining a mask mandate is necessary and he’s taken the opposite direction,” Young said.
In Vallejo, it’s status quo, said Vice Mayor Rozzana Verder-Aliga, vacationing this week in Hawaii.
“The city council is not considering mask mandates at this time although I have received an email request from a council member to put it on the agenda,” Verder-Aliga said. “My opinion is to follow Solano County COVID-19 safety guidelines for now. I personally wear masks at indoor events and at my office per Solano County protocols. I am fully vaccinated as well as my entire family and plan to take booster shots when available.”
Verder-Aliga’s advice to Vallejo residents “is to get vaccinated and follow CDC COVID-19 guidelines.”
Though Vallejo Mayor Robert McConnell was unavailable for comment, Interim Vallejo City Manager Anne Cardwell said she is “going to broach the topic of mask requirements in public spaces and COVID” at the Vallejo City Council’s Tuesday meeting, according to Christina Lee, Vallejo’s Communications and Public Information Officer.
“If it is to be agendized, we are potentially looking at the Sept. 14th meeting for that item,” Lee said, adding that “with the rise of the Delta variant, the city is requiring masks in all city buildings regardless of vaccination status at this time.”
Young said Benicia’s vaccination rate is second in the county to Rio Vista, “which isn’t surprising because of their retirement community.”
The Benicia mayor contends that with the county’s less restrictive protocols compared to Contra Costa County, “there are people refusing to shop in town. They’ll cross a bridge because they’re not comfortable going into Raley’s or Safeway without a mask mandate.”
A mask mandate “is a better option than leaving it up to the whims of an individual,” Young said. “And a mask mandate is also for the protection of employees. It’s about spreading the virus to each other. For example, employees at Raley’s are exposed to people all day long and if there are people unvaccinated and unmasked, it puts them (the employees) at greater risk.”
Young believes the Benicia City Council will pass a mask mandate, with tighter restrictions for city employees a possible topic for future meetings. Currently, city employees “simply have to fill out a form and send it to HR that attests to their (vaccination) status.”
In the near future, Young said city employees may have to show proof of vaccination with the CDC card.
“I’ve been trying to convince people to get vaccinated over a year now,” Young said. “Certainly, there’s a segment of the community that isn’t going to get vaccinated unless forced to and we’re not talking about a mandate forcing vaccinations.”
Young said his “first obligation as an elected official to protect the health and safety of our community. I see this as a necessary step in that direction.”
If the Benicia City Council passes the mask mandate, businesses will be required to post signs indicating masks must be worn indoors where people congregate like restaurants or in a real estate office lobby.
“If you’re by yourself in an office, you won’t have to wear a mask,” Young said.
People walk along 1st Street in downtown Benicia as they shop on Friday.(Chris Riley/Times-Herald)
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