With cases of COVID-19 rising locally and increased circulation of the highly transmissible Delta variant, the County of Ventura Public Health Department strongly recommends that everyone, regardless of vaccination status, wear masks indoors in public places. This serves as an extra precautionary measure for those who are fully vaccinated and will further limit spread of the Delta variant in the community at large.

“The Delta variant is spreading quickly in our State. All community members should take action to protect themselves and others against this potentially deadly virus,” said County of Ventura Health Officer Doctor Robert Levin. “While vaccines remain our best tool against COVID-19, masking in indoor and crowded outdoor settings will help us curb the spread of this latest wave of infection. Ventura County data have recently shown that unvaccinated people are 22 times more likely to become infected and hospitalized than vaccinated residents. Several of our hospitalized people have been vaccinated and that is several too many.”

In June, the Delta variants comprised 43 percent of all specimens sequenced in California. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) noted that Delta variants are now responsible for 58 percent of new infections across the country. Fully vaccinated people are well-protected from infections and serious illness due to known COVID-19 variants including Delta variants, and vaccinating as many people as possible, as soon as possible, continues to be our best defense against severe COVID-19 infection, and the harm it can do to our region. Vaccines are safe, effective, free, and widely available to everyone 12 and older. “For the most part this is a surge of cases among our unvaccinated and it is preventable. Get vaccinated,” said Doctor Levin.

Out of an abundance of caution, people are strongly recommended to wear masks indoors in settings like grocery or retail stores, theaters, and family entertainment centers, even if they are fully vaccinated as an added layer of protection for both themselves and unvaccinated residents. Businesses are asked to expect universal masking for customers entering indoor areas of their businesses to provide better protection to their employees and customers. Workplaces must comply with Cal/OSHA requirements and fully vaccinated employees are encouraged to wear masks indoors if their employer has not confirmed the vaccination status of those around them. For masks to work properly, they need to completely cover your nose and mouth and fit snugly against the sides of your face and around your nose.

Public Health will continue to monitor transmission rates, hospitalizations, deaths and increasing vaccination rates throughout the County and will reevaluate the recommendation in the coming weeks. COVID-19 information can be monitored at www.vcrecovers.org.

COVID-19 vaccines are available at multiple locations throughout the County of Ventura for all community members 12 or older. Information about locations can be found at www.myturn.ca.gov or by calling 833-422-4255.

Ventura’s wonderful Park Safety Ambassadors would be a fine place to start.

Why, Here in Ventura — and Throughout California — Kindness Really Matters Now

Now that California and Ventura have reopened, folks are flooding out into the world with joyous abandon. That is happy news. We all can use plenty of joy. But there is a flip side to this flood. Businesses that had gone to a skeletal staff (or no staff) are suddenly short staffed. The simple, unequal math is reduced to this — many of our Ventura businesses are struggling to do a lot more with fewer people. Our Ventura businesses — from hotels, to restaurants, to retail — are working hard to hire staff, but it takes time. Lines are a little longer. Waits are a little longer. Phones ring a little longer.

Our businesses are doing the best they can in the face of a happy deluge of visitors and locals eager to greet life, all of them boosting our economy (for which we are deeply grateful). And our businesses are working equally hard to do better. Until they catch up — and they will — we ask for some simple, but game-changing, things. Like patience. An understanding smile. A kind word. Maybe even an unasked for thank you. Ventura’s wonderful Park Safety Ambassadors would be a fine place to start (They’re easy to spot; wearing bright red colored shirts with Ventura’s logo, they’re perpetually cleaning and graciously answering every kind of question).

That’s right, who better to get the kindness ball rolling than the locals? We Venturans know how to do this. No town knows better. We know how to move a little more slowly; see what’s important and what isn’t. These businesses that are working so hard to adapt to this bright world, most of them are run by our friends and neighbors. These are people we know. How could we not be patient and understanding?

Venturans and visitors, we all walk through this time together. Who wouldn’t want to make it more pleasant? And it requires pretty much nothing. No effort (how hard is a smile?). No real inconvenience (how hard, a few extra beats of patience?) No timetable. “Be kind whenever possible,” the Dalai Lama once said. “It is always possible.”

Why not even be proactively kind? There’s the story of a man who sets his phone alarm so that it goes off a few times a day. At that moment, he does something kind.

Makes you feel good just reading that, doesn’t it?

Why not spread that feeling?