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The California State Capitol in Sacramento has toughened its mask policy after finding nine recent cases of Covid-19 in the Assembly, including four cases in people who had been fully vaccinated, legislative officials said.
The Capitol’s mask mandate is being tightened at a time when the highly contagious Delta variant, with its enhanced capacity to sidestep vaccines, accounts for nearly a third of cases in the state and for more than half of cases in the country, according to new estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Under the new policy, legislators and staff members, regardless of their vaccination status, must wear masks at all times in the Capitol, the Legislative Office Building and district offices.
The policy, which went into effect on Tuesday, extends to legislators and staff members working in office suites. Under the previous policy, masks had only been required in public areas like hallways and hearing rooms.
In addition, the Senate and the Assembly will begin twice weekly Covid testing of employees who are not fully vaccinated, according to memos from administrators in both of the branches.
Over the last 10 days, nine Assembly staff members have tested positive, though one of them later tested negative, Assembly officials said. Eight of the cases were confined to one Assembly office, officials said.
“We take this very seriously,” Speaker Anthony Rendon said in a statement. “It’s our job to serve the people and protect our staff, so that’s what we’re doing. The good news is the great majority of our staff is vaccinated.”
Erika Contreras, the secretary of the California State Senate, said in a statement: “The Senate does not have any current cases and has a host of protocols in place that we will continue to adhere to.”
Ms. Contreras pointed out that even fully vaccinated people can be infected, although they are less likely to suffer the most serious symptoms.
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