As the final Bay Area county drops their indoor masking mandate Wednesday, health experts urge residents to take slow steps into this new phase of the pandemic.
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Dr. John Swartzberg, infectious diseases professor emeritus at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health, told KCBS Radio's "Ask An Expert" masks remain a vital tool in fighting coronavirus.
"Unfortunately some people are reacting to this like the pandemic's over and they can just go back to living like they were before. I think that's really a mistake and I certainly don't think that's the message that public health is trying to give," he said.
Looking back at the almost two-year long history with COVID-19, Swartzberg likened it to a rollercoaster.
"Last March we were seeing a dramatic decline from the horrific winter we had been through… Nobody thought that around the corner, on July 1st roughly, was delta," he recalled, warning that perspective is important as the Bay Area enjoys a time period of low COVID-19 cases.
"We're in much better shape than we were, but we still don't know what's around the corner," he cautioned.
At the height of the omicron surge, the Bay Area saw a staggering 800 cases per every 100,000 people. Now that number has dropped to the low 20s, prompting counties and schools to relax mask protocol.
Mayor London Breed shared her thoughts on the school mask mandate lift during a press conference Tuesday, voicing her full support to see masks removed.
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