Effective Wednesday, California will reintroduce a statewide mask mandate for public indoor spaces.

The regulations come as positive COVID-19 cases have increased, as have COVID-19 related hospitalizations. Before Thanksgiving, the state was seeing 9.6 positive COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents, a number that has increased to 14 cases per 100,000 residents, since.

The statewide mask mandate will be limited to a month, between December 15 and January 15, according to Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly.

“We know people are tired and hungry for normalcy. Frankly, I am too,” Ghaly said Monday. “That said, this is a critical time where we have a tool that we know has worked and can work.”

Previously, the state’s order only required masks in public transportation, airline flights, schools and healthcare facilities.

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