All across the country, Americans are suffering from COVID exhaustion. So, is it a good idea to provide some mental relief by easing the mandates on masks?
Health
Since the novel coronavirus first reached our shores back in 2019, Americans have been instructed and (now) conditioned to wear masks everywhere. The theory is that a mask can prevent the spread of tiny droplets from mouths and noses that may carry COVID-19. However, some Americans are claiming that continuing to wear a mask in 2022 — some 3 years after the beginning of the pandemic — is nothing short of nonsensical.
For example, many restaurants insist that patrons wear a mask when entering their establishment. However, 10 seconds after entering, those same patrons are allowed to remove their masks to eat and drink. Is that a matter of legitimate safety or COVID “theater?”
In New York State, Gov. Kathy Hochul has extended the mask mandate for all businesses and schools. However, In San Francisco, health officials have decided that it’s no longer a necessity to continue wearing masks in offices and gyms, employee commuter vehicles, religious gatherings, indoor college classes, and other gatherings of individuals who meet regularly. The belief is that for as long as someone is double vaccinated and even boosted (with proof), a mask is simply not needed to prevent the spread of COVID.
“As we come out of this latest surge and face a future in which COVID-19 will remain among us, San Francisco will take a balanced approach in our response to COVID-19,” San Francisco Health Officer Dr. Susan Philip said in a statement. “We also acknowledge areas where San Francisco can be further ahead in easing restrictions, such as the indoor mask exemption for stable cohorts, given our highly vaccinated and boosted population.
“Our hospitalizations, while high, are stable and leveling off and we anticipate they will also decline as our case rates are coming down,” Dr. Philip continued. “The projections are positive. Hospital capacity (is) remaining good in San Francisco through the largest of our surges.”
Is Dr. Philip onto something — particularly since many Americans are suffering from COVID exhaustion and have grown tired of daily restrictions? Are masks nothing more than a physical remnant of the original COVID pandemic of 2020 from days gone by? Or, are they still a helpful deterrent in 2022 from new variants and infections coming down the pipeline?
NPR: A new statewide mask mandate in California took effect Wednesday. At a moment when health authorities are warning of the fast spread of the highly infectious omicron variant, states with mask mandates — just nine according to the Kaiser Family Foundation — are outliers. This is true in places with huge surges, like Michigan, where there’s no mandate and hospitals overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients. There’s none in Ohio, where the legislature has taken away the governor’s authority on mandates. There’s none in New Hampshire, which currently has the most cases of COVID-19 per capita of any U.S. state, with 93 cases per 100,000 residents. Even some counties and cities — like Nashville, Tenn., and Washington D.C., for example — that were pro-mask mandates earlier in the pandemic seem reluctant to bring them back. Public health experts who track the pandemic are worried. Past experience with COVID-19 shows that when… Read more »