A former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration said Sunday that in some places in the U.S., widespread COVID-19 ordinances are no longer needed. He used San Francisco as an example of a city that should lift them.
Dr. Scott Gottlieb, who was FDA commissioner from 2017 to 2019, joined “Face the Nation” to discuss the coronavirus pandemic. He told CBS’ John Dickerson that in some places across the country, there’s no longer a need for widespread ordinances.
“I think we need to start lifting these things, as the situation improves, also to demonstrate that we can do that and we maintain our integrity and our ability to re-implement these things when we have to,” Gottlieb said. “The public has to trust that public health officials are going to lift these restrictions as quickly as we put them in place, as the conditions improve.”
Gottlieb said he believes that the measures are part of what’s holding back the country’s economy right now.
“People are not going back to work, not just because of these benefits,” he added. “I know there's been a lot of talk about that, but also because they're being told they have to wear masks and still have to exercise cautions that probably in many parts of this country you don't have to do.”
He then used San Francisco as an example.
“You look at San Francisco, 20 cases a day, more than 70% of the population vaccinated, very good testing in place – they don’t need mask ordinances indoors anymore, and certainly not outside,” Gottlieb said.
He mentioned that he does think the country will have to content with COVID-19 again this winter, but said that public health measures can be put back in place reactively, based on measures of spread.
San Francisco moved into California’s least restrictive COVID-19 reopening tier on Tuesday.
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