Beginning Feb. 16, all Bay Area counties, except for Santa Clara County, will lift mask mandates for people vaccinated against COVID-19 in most indoor settings.
Dr. Monica Gandhi, Professor of Medicine at UCSF, told KCBS Radio's "Bay Current" that it's the appropriate time to end the face-covering mandate despite concerns about the omicron variant's impact on hospitals and clinics.
"It is the right time because of the high vaccination rate in the Bay Area," Gandhi said on Thursday. "The two parameters we should follow are the vaccination and hospital rate. I looked at the states that are lifting mask mandates which fit these parameters. There is a 70% vaccination rate, and they have plenty of capacity in their ICUs."
Gandhi noted the states that currently meet these metrics are Oregon, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut and Delaware. But Southern states are still suffering from the omicron surge and its impact on their medical system.
"Mississippi is more than 80% full in their ICUs, and in Tennessee, it’s the same thing, and I would not lift the mandate in those places," she added. "You cannot have 20% of ICU capacity being taken by COVID-19 patients."
Gandhi added that even though the omicron variant has been incredibly infectious for unvaccinated people, the Bay Area's "saving grace" is its high vaccination rates providing regional immunity.
"Our hospitalizations for COVID-19 were controlled because we have vaccinations. We see this in places with high immunity, people could weather it," she said. "But I still want people to be vaccinated, and I can't stress that enough."
Santa Clara County health officials have stated that they will maintain their mask mandate because of the high number of cases in the community, but the county could lift it in a matter of weeks.
