SACRAMENTO, Calif — Sacramento's public health officials met with media to discuss COVID-19 cases in the county, and how the area may be moving closer to lesser restrictions.
"We're continuing a downward trend," Sacramento County Public Health Officer Dr. Olivia Kasirye said during the meeting.
Despite that trend, Kasirye did not give a date on when to expect the surrounding counties to do away with indoor mask mandates.
She noted that when Sacramento County reaches a seven-day average of five cases per 100,000 people, then the mask mandate could be lifted. That's the same place the county was in when the state officially 'reopened' and mandates were first lifted back on June 15. Meaning, the county still has a ways to go because the current figures are around 17 cases per 100,000 people.
In Yolo County, Dr. Aimee Sisson put out an even tougher threshold in order to the lift the mandate at two cases per 100,000. Right now, they're around 15.
"It has to be sustained for a week so if we're bouncing up and down, we want some stability before we lift the order," Aimee Sisson, the Yolo County Health Officer said.
"What we don't want to see happen is when we take our masks off, that our cases go back up," Sisson added.
ABC10 asked what the community can do to help lower those numbers in order to finally take their masks off.
"I think continuing to wear our masks indoors is definitely helping to control our numbers, gathering outdoors if we are going to gather together as opposed to indoors, getting more people vaccinated is the most important thing that's going to get those numbers down," she said.
It's a bit of a different story in Stanislaus County, where they are only requiring a case rate of 20 per 100,000 people in order to lift their mandate. But right now, they're still around 30.
"Our hospitals have been very impacted by COVID cases, and we want to make sure that there is plenty of room for people's everyday needs, especially going into flu season," Elizabeth McCuiston, a spokesperson for the Stanislaus County Health Services Agency, said.
Colusa County's public health officer on Tuesday rescinded an order that allowed county residents to remove their masks Friday, Sept. 30.
RELATED:
ABC10: Watch, Download, Read
Watch more from ABC10: