California last week became the first state in the country to officially shift to an endemic approach to the coronavirus, beginning the transition away from the mask mandates and business shutdowns which have dominated public health policies over the last two years.
Dr. Dean Blumberg, Professor and Chief of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at UC Davis Health, said that this change is possible because most of the state's population has been either vaccinated or infected, meaning the majority of people should have at least partial immunity from the virus. Breakthrough infections that do occur are more likely to result in mild outpatient illnesses, rather than hospitalizations or death.
The state is now preparing to live with the virus for the long-haul, and is relinquishing responsibility to the individual.
"Because people have at least partial immunity, it becomes less of a public health issue and more of an individual health issue." Dr. Blumberg told KCBS Radio news anchor Dan Mitchinson on Monday's "Ask An Expert." "People can make their own risk calculations, based on their own risk tolerance and underlying conditions and decide how much interactions they have with other people and whether they want to wear a mask or not and the type of mask they want to wear."
COVID-19 will eventually cease being a health crisis, and instead be viewed similarly to the common cold or the flu.
Despite the transition, Dr. Blumberg said he still expects masks to remain a part of everyday life, both in certain sectors like transportation and healthcare, as well as across public spaces. He especially expects mask wearing to persist during the respiratory virus season in the winter, a practice for years in certain Asian countries.
"Not only do (masks) work really well against COVID-19, but against all community acquired respiratory viruses," he explained. "I for one was happy not to get a cold or flu during the pandemic."
Dr. Blumberg said that both masking and social distancing have resulted in decreased transmission of all community acquired respiratory illnesses. He cited that, on average, usually 100 to 150 children in the U.S. die each year from the flu. However, the last respiratory viral season from 2020 to 2021, only one child in the country died due to the flu.
"That just shows you how the mask wearing can decrease transmission," he said.
