California has no general mask mandate for the public. State-level masking rules for everyday settings like stores, restaurants, offices, and transit were lifted in 2022 and have not returned, and the Cal/OSHA COVID-19 workplace regulations expired in February 2025. What remains of California mask requirements lives in three places: healthcare and high-risk care facilities, local health officer orders in counties that choose to issue them, and general employer duties to keep workplaces safe. Your right to wear a mask if you want to is separately protected.
Where Masks Are Still Required or Expected
Healthcare is the setting most likely to still require a mask, and the rules are set facility by facility rather than by a single statewide order. The California Department of Public Health frames masking in healthcare as something each facility “should consider” when writing its own plan, taking into account its patient population, local respiratory virus activity, and layout.1California Department of Public Health. Guidance for Face Coverings as Source Control in Healthcare Settings In practice, many hospitals and clinics still require masking in clinical areas as a matter of facility policy.
For skilled nursing facilities, a CDPH All Facilities Letter issued in October 2025 for the 2025–26 respiratory virus season tells facilities to maintain source control masking policies using well-fitting facemasks or respirators.2California Department of Public Health. AFL 25-28 It is framed as guidance, but most skilled nursing facilities enforce it for staff and visitors.
Separately, Cal/OSHA’s Aerosol Transmissible Diseases standard is still in force. It requires healthcare and correctional facilities to use source control for patients or individuals suspected of having an airborne infectious disease, including masking the person and requiring employees to use respiratory protection when source control is not possible.3California Department of Industrial Relations. Section 5199 – Aerosol Transmissible Diseases This standard predates the pandemic and covers a range of airborne diseases, not only COVID-19.
Counties can go further than the state. California gives local health officers broad authority to issue public health orders, and CDPH has said expressly that local health jurisdictions and other entities may impose additional requirements based on local circumstances.4California Department of Public Health. Face Coverings Questions and Answers When a local order and state guidance conflict, the more protective rule applies. Los Angeles County, for example, has a Health Officer order requiring masking of personnel in healthcare and direct care settings, and the order itself states that the more protective provision controls when there is a conflict with state rules.5County of Los Angeles Department of Public Health. Order of the Health Officer No. 2023-02 Required Masking of Personnel in Healthcare and Direct Care Settings Other counties may have different rules or none. Check your county or city public health department before relying on the statewide picture.
Violating a local health officer order can be charged as a misdemeanor under California law, with possible fines and, in some cases, jail time. The exact penalty depends on the order and the statute behind it.
Workplace Rules After the Cal/OSHA COVID Regulations Expired
The Cal/OSHA COVID-19 Prevention Non-Emergency Regulations, which previously required masking after infection, masking during outbreaks, and employer-provided respirators on request, expired on February 3, 2025. There is no longer a COVID-specific set of workplace rules.6California Department of Industrial Relations. Cal/OSHA COVID-19 Guidance and Resources The only piece still in effect is the recordkeeping subsection (section 3205(j)), which continues until February 3, 2026.7California Department of Industrial Relations. Archived Cal/OSHA COVID-19 Prevention Non-Emergency Regulations
Employers still have general safety duties. California Labor Code section 6400 requires a safe and healthful workplace, and the Injury and Illness Prevention Program standard at Title 8, section 3203 requires employers to identify, evaluate, and correct hazards, including infectious disease hazards. If an employer determines that COVID-19 or another respiratory virus is a workplace hazard, it has to address it, which can include a masking policy, better ventilation, or other controls.6California Department of Industrial Relations. Cal/OSHA COVID-19 Guidance and Resources
Your Right to Wear a Mask
Even where no one requires a mask, no one can bar you from wearing one. The CDPH’s face covering guidance says plainly that no person can be prevented from wearing a mask as a condition of entering a business or participating in an activity, and that includes schools and childcare facilities.8California Department of Public Health. Guidance for Face Coverings Employers must likewise let any employee voluntarily wear a face covering, as long as it does not create a safety hazard.
AB 1326, introduced in the 2025–2026 legislative session, would codify an individual’s right to wear a “health mask” in any public place to protect personal or public health, covering communicable disease, air quality, and other health factors. The bill carves out narrow exceptions for situations that require identity verification or where removing a mask is a genuine job requirement.9LegiScan. CA AB1326 2025-2026 Regular Session As of early 2026 it is still moving through the legislature.
When Wearing a Mask Is Itself Restricted
Two California laws restrict mask-wearing in specific contexts. Penal Code section 185 makes it a misdemeanor to wear a mask, false whiskers, or any personal disguise for the purpose of evading identification while committing a crime, or for concealment, flight, or escape after being charged with, arrested for, or convicted of a crime.10California Legislative Information. California Penal Code Section 185 The statute targets criminal intent. Wearing a surgical mask for health reasons does not violate it.
SB 627, which took effect in January 2026, applies to law enforcement officers who cover their faces. An officer who does so loses the ability to assert qualified immunity in civil suits for assault, battery, false arrest, and similar claims. The minimum civil penalty for committing one of those offenses while masked is $10,000. The law exempts N95 or medical-grade masks worn to prevent infection and allows undercover operatives to wear masks.
Accommodations If You Cannot Wear a Mask
Where a mask requirement does apply, whether set by a government facility, a private business, or an employer, federal law requires reasonable accommodations for people who cannot wear a mask because of a disability. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, businesses and government agencies have to consider modifications so a person with a disability can still get the goods or services. Alternatives can include a face shield instead of a fitted mask, curbside pickup, or appointments handled by phone or video.
A business can refuse an accommodation only if it would fundamentally change the nature of its services, impose an undue financial or administrative burden, or if the person poses a direct threat to others’ health or safety that cannot be reduced. The direct-threat finding has to come from an individualized assessment, not from generalizations about a disability.
At work, employees can also seek a religious accommodation to a mask requirement under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. The protection reaches not only members of organized religions but anyone with sincerely held religious, ethical, or moral beliefs, and the employer and employee are expected to work through an interactive process to find a solution.11U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Religious Discrimination
Travel
There is no federal requirement to wear a mask on airplanes, in airports, or on other public transportation. The federal transportation mask mandate expired in April 2022 and has not been reinstated. CDC’s 2026 guidance for air travelers recommends a well-fitting N95 or similar respirator to cut transmission of respiratory infections, particularly during boarding and deplaning, as a personal choice rather than a legal requirement.12Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Air Travel – CDC Yellow Book 2026 Individual airlines can set their own policies.