California To Drop Indoor, Workplace Mask Mandate On Feb. 15

California’s statewide indoor mask requirement will expire on Feb. 15, the Office of California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday.

While unvaccinated individuals are still required to wear masks indoors, Newsom said the requirement to mask indoors is expiring due to the state's COVID-19 case rate decreasing by 65% since its Omicron peak and the stabilization of hospitalizations rates.

The state's COVID-19 website does not include indoors in K-12 schools, childcare, and other youth settings, but a more detailed set of requirements for each county and city can be found here.

In August 2021, the California Department of Health sent a letter to all school leaders outlining its requirement for universal masking indoors for all K-12 schools.

"To be clear: failure to enforce the mask requirement breaches not only a legal duty, but also the first and foremost duty of every school leader—to protect students," the August letter reads.

At the time of publication, there is no update to California's K-12 framework for the 2021-22 school year, per its website.