“To help stop the spread of COVID-19, the Monterey County Health Officer is requiring residents to wear a face covering when going out into the public to perform essential activities, effective 12:01 a.m. on Thursday, April 30, 2020. Combined with sheltering in place, social distancing, and frequent hand hygiene, facial coverings are shown to help slow transmission of COVID-19. The use of medical masks, such as N-95 respirators and surgical masks, are strongly discouraged for general use. Due to the global demand for personal protective equipment (PPE), there is a severe shortage of PPE across the state. Those supplies should be reserved for health care workers and first responders. Monterey County Health Department asks residents to refrain from purchasing PPE for their own use and to utilize homemade face coverings instead.
Businesses must take reasonable measures, such as posting signs, to remind patrons about face coverings, and may not serve customers who do not observe the order. Workers do not need to wear face coverings if they are alone in a personal office but must put them on when others are present.
The order also includes customers of public transit (including while waiting at transit stops), rideshare services, and passengers in private automobiles who are not members of the same household. ”