A year after the pandemic started, Yosemite National Park guests must now wear masks

A sign explaining social distancing at Yosemite Falls on June 11, 2020 in Yosemite National Park, California.
Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

For the last seven months, Yosemite National Park has encouraged, but not required, that visitors wear masks. Even when they were indoors. Even when hundreds attended a Thanksgiving dinner at the Ahwahnee hotel.

That is now a thing of the past. As one of his first actions on Wednesday, President Joe Biden signed a federal mandate requiring face coverings inside federal buildings and on land controlled by the federal government.

“This executive action will direct the agencies to take action to require compliance with [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] guidance on mask-wearing and physical distancing in federal buildings, on federal lands and by federal employees and contractors,” Biden counselor Jeff Zients, who will lead the new administration’s coronavirus effort, told CNN.

“And the president will call on governors, public health officials, mayors, business leaders and others to implement masking, physical distancing and other public measures to control COVID-19,” he added.

US President Joe Biden prepares to sign a series of orders in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, after being sworn in at the US Capitol on January 20, 2021. (Photo by Jim WATSON / AFP) (Photo by JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images

For some of California’s national parks, the new mandate won’t change anything. For instance, at Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks, "masks or other face coverings” were already required to be worn inside all indoor and public spaces. “This applies to both guests and employees," the official website for the parks' lodgings stated.

But in Yosemite, that wasn’t the case. Back in December, Yosemite Public Information Officer Jamie Richards told SFGATE, “Yosemite does not require masks, but they are strongly encouraged.”

The inconsistency was a reflection of how the nation's response to the pandemic was fractured under the Trump administration, with some national parks and vendors requiring and enforcing masks, and others not, depending on state and local ordinances.

Employees working indoors at Yosemite National Park expressed relief that public health guidance on mask wearing would finally become compulsory within their workplace. “I’m just thankful we finally have it,” says Lianne Saylor, an Ahwahnee roomskeeper, “and thankful to have a president who acts like an adult.”

In response to a emailed request for more details about what the new mandate would mean for Yosemite, Information Officer Scott Gediman wrote, “We do not have any info.”