Amid the turmoil of the past two years — a period that included a deadly pandemic, mass layoffs, an ugly presidential election and an attack on the U.S. Capitol — some of the fiercest political debates in America have been waged over a nearly weightless piece of fabric: the face mask. U.S. officials were slow to embrace face masks as a strategy for slowing the spread of the coronavirus. When they finally did, masks became a potent symbol of the pandemic — a common-sense public health measure tur
Vaccinations at a community site in San Francisco, Nov. 14, 2021.
Some public officials are already mapping out an endgame. On Tuesday, Mayor Muriel Bowser of Washington, D.C., announced that indoor mask requirements would be loosened. The next day, Florida lawmakers passed a bill banning school mask mandates, which some districts had already abandoned. A randomized trial, conducted by Luby and his colleagues in 600 villages in Bangladesh, demonstrated that a mask-wearing intervention, including the distribution of free masks and a multipronged messaging campaign, led to substantial increases in mask-wearing and declines in COVID-19 cases.
But given that most people tolerate masks well and that mask-wearing is far less disruptive than other mitigation measures like lockdowns, face masks are a key tool in managing the pandemic, experts said. But loosening mask requirements now would be premature, experts said, especially as we head into the winter, when people spend more time indoors, holiday travel brings far-flung people together and respiratory viruses circulate easily.Marr recommended not lifting school mask mandates until after the winter holidays had passed and more school-age children have had the chance to get both of their shots.
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