The County of Napa Calif. logo. seal (Photo courtesy of the County of Napa)

Napa County on Friday joined seven other Bay Area counties in requiring people to wear face coverings indoors at workplaces and public places, county officials said Thursday.

The requirement is in effect regardless of whether a person is vaccinated against COVID-19.

Exceptions to the mandate are limited and county officials suggest businesses make face coverings available to customers.

The health order was issued because of the recent increase in COVID-19 hospital and intensive care unit admissions in the county, due primarily to coronavirus’ delta variant.

Keith Burbank is currently a fulltime reporter covering Alameda County and Oakland news for Bay City News. He has also worked on the Data Points project for Local News Matters, finding trends and stories about the region through data. In 2019, he was a California Fellow at the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism, producing a series about homeless deaths in Santa Clara County. He worked as a swing shift editor for the newswire for several years as well. Outside of journalism, Keith enjoys computer programming, math, economics and music.