DANVILLE, Calif. (KRON) – An East Bay bowling alley is not enforcing the local face mask mandate amid a surge in delta variant cases, and their reason for not doing so was made clear Tuesday.

In a Facebook post, Danville Bowl defended its stance, saying in part “the choice is up to YOU.”

The Danville Bowl is well aware of the mask mandate that goes into effect today…

With that being said, we will NOT be enforcing it. We believe everyone has the right to freedom and not constant retracting restrictions from the government. Let’s be honest… if they were intelligent they wouldn’t be working for the government.

If you would like to wear your mask inside while you bowl, feel free. If you don’t want too, that’s okay. The choice is up to YOU, as it always should have been. Not to mention if you’re vaccinated you should have nothing to worry about anyway.

See ya’ll on the lanes.

DANVILLE BOWL

Seven Bay Area counties – including Contra Costa County where Danville is located – reinstated an indoor mask mandate Tuesday in an effort to bring coronavirus cases back down amid the surging delta variant, which is estimated to make up nearly 80% of new cases in the U.S.,  according to the CDC.

Bay Area officials said the delta variant is infecting a “small percentage” of vaccinated Bay Area residents but they are still strongly protected against severe illness, hospitalization and death.

They hope that the mask mandate will prevent the need for more drastic measures.

Two counties, Napa and Solano, do not agree with the vast majority of Bay Area public health officials who announced a return to a mask mandate to help prevent the spread of the delta variant. 

Nearly 58% of Americans age 12 and up are fully vaccinated at this time. But that means there is still a large number of unvaccinated Americans, in addition to the kids younger than 12 who are not yet authorized to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.