LOS ANGELES (KNX) – On Monday, California Governor Gavin Newsom announced the state's indoor mask requirement would end Feb. 15 for those who are vaccinated.
While the mandate only applies to counties without local mask mandates in place, is it still too soon for the eligible counties to start throwing away masks?
Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease specialist at UCSF, told KNX In Depth that while the timing of the mandate is right, the idea of it being the right time comes with an "asterisk."
"There's still 2,500 deaths a day in the United States. In California, it is still killing more people than the first twos urges we've had in the state, so it's not mild business," Dr. Chin-Hong explained.
"But on the other hand, we haven't seen the straining of the hospitals, particularly in the Bay Area compared to other parts of the country and we have new tools now to help people."
Those "new tools" Dr. Chin-Hong refers to, includes the oral pills being given out in hospitals.
"I know that it's been in short supply, but it is increasing over time and I think, yeah maybe it might be too little too late, but it's just something that we expect to come more and more on board," he noted.
"In fact, in San Francisco, we've been getting a little bit more every allocation we get, which is in some respect every two week. So I remain optimistic about that increasing supply."
But is this mandate a sign that the end of the pandemic is near?
"In many senses, this dropping the mask mandate is more of a symbol or metaphor rather than people's actual behaviors, which might not even change that much as long as there's circulating virus," Dr. Chin-Hong said.
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