The last two years have seen a lot of turmoil in America, but one thing that has remained constant is the debate over the face mask.
American officials were slow to embrace face masks as a strategy for slowing the spread of the coronaviruses. When masks became a symbol of the Pandemic, they became a visible reminder that life was not normal.
Many Americans are wondering when the masks will come off after the summer surge in the Delta and the start of school.
The best science supports mask-wearing as a valid strategy to reduce Covid-19, according to Dr. Stephen Luby, an infectious disease expert and epidemiologist. How long do we do this, and how many contexts? He asked, "Do we all wear masks the rest of our lives?"
Some public officials are working on a plan. The Mayor of Washington, D.C., announced on Tuesday that indoor mask requirements would be loosened. Some districts abandoned their school mask mandates after the bill banning them was passed.
Eric Adams wants to drop the mask mandate in schools when health officials determine it is safe, his spokesman said in an email.
Experts said that time has not yet arrived.
Anne Rimoin, an epidemiologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, said that cases are starting to rise again. We may be tired of Covid restrictions and public health measures, but this virus is not done with us yet.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that people who are fully vaccined wear masks in public indoor spaces where community transmission of the virus is high. Roughly 85% of the U.S. counties meet that threshold, which is defined as at least 50 new cases weekly per 100,000 residents.
The holiday travel season has passed and scientists said it will be safer to ease mask requirements early next year. In future cold and flu seasons, voluntary mask-wearing will be helpful, as well as in certain circumstances.
Dr. Luby doesn't think we'll want to put all our masks away.
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David Walter Banks is a writer for The New York Times.
There is evidence that shows the effectiveness of face masks as a public health intervention.
Even basic cloth masks can block more than 50 percent of small aerosols; surgical masks and N95 respirators are even better. Real-world research shows that statewide and schoolwide mask mandates curb the spread of the virus.
A randomized trial conducted by Dr. Luby and his colleagues in 600 villages in Bangladesh showed that a mask-wearing intervention, including the distribution of free masks and a multipronged messaging campaign, led to substantial increases in mask-wearing and declines in Covid cases. The study has not been published.
All of these studies have limitations, but together they add up to a conclusion.
Linsey Marr, an expert in airborne viruses at Virginia Tech, said there is an overwhelming amount of evidence that masks help slow transmission.
There are drawbacks to face masks. Dr. Marr said that they impede communication. They can be a bit uneasy.
Some people with disabilities may not be able to wear masks, and there is still debate over how to weigh the benefits and drawbacks of masking young children, who are less likely than adults to become seriously ill from the virus. The World Health Organization recommends against requiring masks for children under 6 years old, while the C.D.C. says that children under 2 should not wear masks.
Face masks are a key tool in managing the Pandemic because they are less disruptive than other measures and most people tolerate masks well.
Richard Stutt, an infectious disease modeler at the University of Cambridge, said that mask-wearing is one of the interventions that you probably want to relax last. The cost of mask-wearing is very low.
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People are at Union Station in Washington. Some believe it could be safe to loosen mask requirements early next year, after more children have been vaccinations and the holiday travel season has passed.
As cases dropped and vaccine eligibility expanded, some public officials began considering how to end mask mandates.
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health has a set of criteria for lifting indoor masking requirements.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy floated the idea of eliminating the school mask requirement in phases, beginning with high schools, whose teenage students have been eligible for vaccine for months.
As we head into the winter season, when people spend more time indoors, experts said it would be premature to loosen mask requirements.
Dr. Luby said that he wouldn't reduce mask mandates now.
Dr. Marr advised against lifting school mask mandates until after the winter holidays had passed and more children had the chance to get both of their shots. She said that if community transmission levels are low or moderate a few weeks after school starts in January, then they should get rid of the masks.
In February, we could say goodbye to masks, according to Seema Lakdawala, a respiratory virus expert at the University of Pittsburgh.
Some experts were not willing to give a date. She wants to see a reduction in cases and deaths before easing mask requirements. 1,000 people are dying a day from the virus. This is a matter of life or death for many people and it is not just a matter of comfort and ease.
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A mask vendor is in Queens.
Scientists stressed that the decision to restrict the use of masks will be a local one, based on factors such as local transmission and vulnerability of the population.
Even if things are under control, it would make sense for people in a particular area to wear masks.
mask-wearing is more than just a mask. It will make sense for older adults or people who are immunocompromised to wear masks in certain settings after mandates are lifted. Scientists said that people should be prepared to put on masks in the event of a future surge.
New mask-wearing norms might last longer than the swine flu. During future flu seasons, experts said that they would continue to wear face masks on planes and buses, as they believed it would help reduce the spread of respiratory viruses.
There was a stigma associated with wearing masks before the Pandemic, but it has become normalized in a lot of places. She acknowledged that she thinks others will never wear a mask again.
As other Pandemic restrictions are loosened, Dr. Lakdawala hopes that people will find a brief period of mask-wearing less burdensome.
She hopes that as people become more comfortable with vaccination and realize that they can see their friends and family and they can go and do their normal activities in a safe way, wearing a mask on a bus for 20 minutes isn't seen as a burden. It is seen as a way to protect yourself and your family.
