Fauci: We’re at the Level Where It’s Still Risky to Not Wear Masks
Warning comes as mask mandates fall across the United States
Americans are still putting themselves at risk of infection from COVID-19 if they go without masks, according to President Biden's chief medical advisor.
This warning from Dr Anthony Fauci comes as mask mandates are falling by the wayside across the country.
Few mask restrictions remain. On January 28, 11 states required masks in some or all settings, but as of Tuesday seven, plus Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C., still have restrictions in place. Of these states, several have announced plans to lift them by the end of February or beginning of March.
The end of restrictions comes with some caveats. For example, in New York, masks must still be worn in public transportation, nursing homes, correctional facilities and homeless shelters.
Washington State planned to lift its outdoor mask mandate Friday and still requires masking indoors. And for many, school restrictions will remain for at least the coming weeks.
Virginia's new Republican governor, Glenn Youngkin, got himself into quite a bit of hot water early on trying to buck an end to mask mandates too soon.
Youngkin signed a bill into law Wednesday that blocks public school districts from requiring masks, instead leaving the decision up to parents. The bipartisan legislation, which goes into effect March 1, is a major development in an intensely politicized month-long fight over who gets to make decisions about students wearing masks: school districts or parents.
Dr Fauci offered an overall assessment of where the nation stands with the COVID pandemic.
“I believe there’s a reasonably good chance we’re going to see that, that over the next few weeks, if that trajectory keeps coming down at that sharp angle and we don’t have a flattening off at a level that’s above the level of really being a problem, that we could be in reasonably good shape,” Dr Fauci said in an on-air interview with CNN. “But again, we always got to be careful that we’ve been to this show before, where things came down, you pull back a little, and it bounces back. Not only the current variant doing that, but we’ve always got to be prepared to address it and readdress it again, if we get a different variant.
“Hopefully, we’re not going to see that, but we’ve got to be prepare prepared for that scenario, but right now I’m looking at that chart and it’s coming down really nicely, so hopefully new metrics will help guide the people at the local level of what to do,” he added.
But there remains a place for masking, Fauci said.
“Well, I have said it before John, and there’s no reason for me to change that now. It is risky. It is risky. You may get away with it, very well, it’s possible you’ll get away with it but you do have a risk when you pull back if you have a certain dynamic of infection that you’ll have a rebound and hopefully the states that are doing that have a plan if in fact we do see a rebound up, they’ll be able to reinstitute the mitigation methods they’re now pulling back on,” he said. “You know, when you want to pull back and say we’re done, well, you know, the virus may not be done with us. So going down may be the right thing, keep going down, pulling back, but you have to be prepared to re-mitigate again if you see a rebound coming up.”
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