The announcement that 8 Bay Area counties may soon drop the indoor mask mandate has generated mixed reactions among health officials.
"It is so dangerous and I vehemently disagree with it," epidemiologist and health economist Dr. Eric Feigl-Ding told KCBS Radio’s "Ask an Expert," adding that the health officers that issued this "are going to regret endangering the public."
He explained that the move to drop the mask mandate is premature, stating that children under 12-years-old are still unable to receive the COVID-19 vaccination and are "extremely vulnerable."
"If you allow the virus to transmit, we’re going to see a surge again because we know that respiratory illnesses are always the worst in the wintertime," he said. "Some people say vaccinations are 95% effective against hospitalizations and death, but you know what, that’s not good enough."
However, Dr. Monica Gandhi, professor of infectious disease at UCSF, expressed more of a neutral stance to KCBS Radio’s Rebecca Corral, even stating that the criteria for the mask mandate should be less complicated.
"It should just be a hospitalization metric in my opinion because that’s the most clear criteria we have," said Gandhi. "If we have low hospitalizations we know things are going well, but the CDC has put in these other criteria that are very complicated."
For those confused by the CDC’s intricate guidelines, Gandhi clarified, stating, "if you have a vaccine passport, if it’s less than 100 people, there’s no need for masks inside."
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