Across the US, masks are coming off, as the Omicron variant continues to diminish.
Many Democratic governors are beginning to dismantle mask mandates for businesses that had been in place for months, while others have suggested that schools may begin taking off their masks in the coming weeks.
The director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota said that governors are reading tea leaves.
I am not saying they shouldn't, but know that it never was based on objective criteria. It was done, we were tired, and it was acceptable now.
Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, acknowledged during a White House COVID-19 briefing earlier this week that they want to give people a break from things like mask-wearing.
Hospitals need to be able to take care of people with heart attacks and strokes.
In order to provide an honest and independent scientific framework for this moment, public health expert Katelyn Jetelina created her own chart, which she shared with Insider. She says that it gives people a framework for how to ride the waves in the event of a coronaviruses surge.
She wrote in a recent Substack post that we need a solution that addresses the ebb and flow of viral dynamics.
The number of COVID-19 cases in your area and the test positivity rate in your area are the two key measures that the chart is meant to be read on. Both metrics are available for all US counties on the CDC's COVID-19 dashboard.
In Brooklyn, New York, the percentage of positive tests is low, but the case rate per 100,000 still puts the area in the red zone.
Jetelina suggests that people in Brooklyn should.
Washington County, Rhode Island, is one of the few places in the US that is not currently experiencing red-hot coronaviruses transmission.
Washington County has a positive test rate of around 7%, which puts the area in the yellow zone.
This means:
The reason to wear a well-fitting mask is to protect the wearer and those around them from being exposed to infectious material. This will help stop the virus from spreading further than it already is, and it is especially important to help protect the people at greatest risk of developing severe, disabling, and deadly COVID cases, including elderly folks, and immunocompromised people.
If you have been exposed to someone who is sick, it is still a good idea to wear a mask for a full 10 days.
Christopher Murray, lead modeler at the leading, said that removing the mandates makes sense in settings where most people are susceptible to Omicron and the numbers are coming down.
Leading experts agree with him that we are moving closer to a time when the COVID-19 outbreak isn't an all-out public health crisis, at least for as long as the Omicron variant continues to control all infections.
Roughly two-thirds of the country could be considered immune to the Omicron variant, according to top US disease modelers working with Murray.
Ali Mokdad, a health metrics scientist at the University of Washington, told the Associated Press that they have changed.
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