Starting February 15th, California will lift its indoor mask mandate .While some counties will get a closer return to pre-pandemic life others, including LA County, will stay masked up. Daishalyn Satcher has the story.
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Local Orange County resident Guillermo Echedaray shares his opinion on Governor Newsom’s decision.
GUILLERMO ECHEDARAY: I don’t necessarily agree with the lifting the mask mandate, especially now working inside a COVID laboratory. For the past month or so, I’ve definitely seen the influx of Rush to get samples and tests and to be able to get clarified to be able to travel. So there’s currently right now a surplus in a surge of. COVID going, so I necessarily don’t agree with it.
This isn’t the first time during the pandemic that mask mandates have been lifted and many like Echedaray are unsure of the decision.
ECHEDERAY: I believe it’s actually worse, as I stated working in the lab and being able to see the rush of companies not being able to process tests and. And the positive cases that I have been reporting has only been increasing by the week that I have worked here.
Instead, Echedaray has an alternate proposal.
ECHEDERAY: Realistically, I feel that they should be lifted unnecessarily on a schedule or chronological order, but more of a overall population of necessarily getting the vaccine.
Following states like New York and New Jersey, many researchers see California’s decision as a sign of progress. Dr. Klausner, a professor at USC Keck School of Medicine agrees.
DR. JEFFREY KLAUSNER: Many places around the country have lifted or in the process of lifting their indoor mask mandates, and that makes a lot of sense. And that’s because we’re in a very different context where we were a year ago.
However, Dr. Klausner believes LA County has a long way to go.
KLAUSNER: I don’t think L.A. County has really recognized this shift that the rest of the country has in the strategy for addressing COVID 19. So it appears that L.A. County is still focused on this idea that you need to reduce the spread of infection, even though we have a, you know, a very good number of people who are vaccinated.
Dr. Klausner sees the disconnect as a chance to redefine the evolving nature of COVID-19.
KLAUSNER: So what we’re seeing is a transition from the pandemic or epidemic, which was this large number of increased number of hospitalizations and death to really call an endemic phase. And in this endemic phase, the virus continues to persist and I expect the virus will continue to persist like other human coronaviruses.
So how are USC students reacting to this decision? Current Ph.D. student Emily Stolken is staying cautious.
EMILY STOLKEN: USC has a lot of safety redundancies in place, so everyone’s been vaccinated. Everyone’s been boosted. We wear masks. We get tested every week. And so those are the things that I think make me feel safe. The mask mandate in Greater Los Angeles doesn’t necessarily, I think, influence influence how I feel, because even though the mask mandate hasn’t been lifted, it’s still not being enforced widely.
Just because masks are coming off in California, that doesn’t mean they will completely be done away with in places like LA County. Now it’s up to you. To mask or not to mask, that is the question.