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New Jersey will lift its school mask mandate four weeks from yesterday, so when will Illinois do the same?

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* Let’s go back to yesterday’s press conference when Gov. Pritzker was asked what metric was he using to gauge whether to lift the mask mandate: Hospitalizations, hospitalizations, hospitalizations,” he said. Pritzker also said this…

We’ve already seen northeastern states where omicron hit first, like New Jersey see the signs that they need to lift these protocols, namely decreased hospitalizations.

* OK, this was published by a New Jersey newspaper on January 18…

The latest and most precipitous spike of the COVID-19 pandemic clearly appears to be abating in New Jersey, as the number of people hospitalized dropped again overnight Monday, down to 5,251, the sixth consecutive day with declining numbers.

That’s a drop of 60 from Sunday and a 14% decline since the peak number of hospitalizations on Jan. 11.

Click here to see the hospitalization timeline for New Jersey.

Illinois’ hospitalization peak was a day later, on January 12. Seven days later, hospitalizations had dropped 12 percent. Not quite the pace of New Jersey, but close.

* New Jersey’s latest numbers show hospitalizations have fallen 67.9 percent since the state’s peak. Illinois’ latest numbers show hospitalizations have dropped 62.8 percent from our peak.
Yesterday…

Gov. Philip D. Murphy of New Jersey, a Democrat who has imposed some of the nation’s most stringent pandemic-related mandates, will no longer require students and school employees to wear masks, signaling a deliberate shift toward treating the coronavirus as a part of daily life.

“This is not a declaration of victory as much as an acknowledgment that we can responsibly live with this thing,” Mr. Murphy, the vice chairman of the National Governors Association, said Monday in announcing the elimination of the mandate.

More…

He said Monday that he’s waiting until March 7 to lift the mandate so local school districts have time to decide whether they want to keep the requirement or eliminate it. The March date will also likely provide some warmer temperatures, allowing schools to open more windows and provide better ventilation than in the heart of winter. […]

State government buildings are the only facilities now that still impose a Murphy-controlled mask mandate in New Jersey. Murphy said his health team has been discussing lifting those mandates but has not yet made a decision.

Masks must still be worn at transportation facilities such as airports and train stations as well as all health care facilities under a federal mandate.

* Big caveat: New Jersey’s vaccination rate is 17 percent higher than Illinois’, 73.3 percent vs. 62.6 percent.

Also, New Jersey’s vax rate for kids 5-11 is 29.4 percent vs. Illinois’ 36.8 percent. The vax rate for kids 12-17 in NJ is 68.6 percent vs. Illinois’ 61.2 percent.

There are other differences between the states. And I only used New Jersey because Gov. Pritzker mentioned it yesterday.

Thoughts?

posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Feb 8, 22 @ 11:45 am

Comments

Just under 11% Still a big difference, though.

Comment by Dutch Tuesday, Feb 8, 22 @ 11:52 am
It should be relaxed when public health officials advise to do so ideally, and hopefully that is soon, but Illinois has been vindicated keep their mask mandate in tact as cases have soared all throughout the country. Still good to wear a mask in the winter when all sorts of other viruses are going around outside of covid. The most important thing to do in schools is to upgrade their ventilation to combat covid and prepare them for the next pandemic.

Comment by Lake Villa Township Tuesday, Feb 8, 22 @ 11:53 am
It’s coming. Maybe it will stay in place through the end of the school year, but there is going to be tremendous pressure to lift it before then, particularly if things continue to improve and under 5 are starting to get vaccines.

I would guess by April we will see a statewide mandate lifted, but places like Chicago will keep it in place until school lets out.

Comment by Montrose Tuesday, Feb 8, 22 @ 11:55 am
Picking an arbitrary date to ease restrictions seems a bit, arbitrary. And the danger in doing so is that things look worse in four weeks but you’ve committed yourself to a date for no apparent reason.

The better approach would be to tie the decision to a clear metric. And I think Pritker could do more to make clear what that metric(s) would be. So if hospitalizations fall to a certain level restrictions would be lifted. That could be in 2 weeks or 2 months. But we’d all know what is driving the decision.

I think it’s clear that guessing what Covid might do next is a fools errand.

Comment by Pundent Tuesday, Feb 8, 22 @ 12:01 pm
It shouldn’t be lifted. It’s too dangerous. Not only is it currently too dangerous, but there will be another variant eventually, and then it may be too late.

I think Pritzker intuitively knows this… He doesn’t want to lift the mask mandate for a reason. This is his mission. He has been an honorable, trailblazer of the mask mandate in this country and his voters will reward him for keeping us safe.

Comment by HP Dem Tuesday, Feb 8, 22 @ 12:10 pm
Picking an arbitrary date to ease restrictions seems a bit, arbitrary. And the danger in doing so is that things look worse in four weeks but you’ve committed yourself to a date for no apparent reason.

The better approach would be to tie the decision to a clear metric. And I think Pritker could do more to make clear what that metric(s) would be. So if hospitalizations fall to a certain level restrictions would be lifted. That could be in 2 weeks or 2 months. But we’d all know what is driving the decision.

I think it’s clear that guessing what Covid might do next is a fools errand.

Can’t. Pritzker set limits early on with all his phase metrics that he didn’t follow so hexwont paint himself into same corner by assigning new metrics…slick

Comment by Jump Tuesday, Feb 8, 22 @ 12:11 pm
It shouldn’t be lifted. It’s too dangerous. Not only is it currently too dangerous, but there will be another variant eventually, and then it may be too late.

I think Pritzker intuitively knows this… He doesn’t want to lift the mask mandate for a reason. This is his mission. He has been an honorable, trailblazer of the mask mandate in this country and his voters will reward him for keeping us safe.

Based on your logic jb needs to make mask permanent? Even fauci said covid won’t disappearcandcwill evolve with newer variants forever…so?

Comment by Bezerk Tuesday, Feb 8, 22 @ 12:13 pm
I think we’ll lift sometime on March barring a big spike. That said I feel for the School Boards, no one will be fully satisfied and the group left unsatisfied will lose their mind no matter which way the board votes.

Comment by Mason born Tuesday, Feb 8, 22 @ 12:13 pm
=It shouldn’t be lifted. It’s too dangerous. Not only is it currently too dangerous, but there will be another variant eventually, and then it may be too late.=

So do you think New Jersey, Delaware, Connecticut governors just don’t comprehend how dangerous it is?

What would make you feel that it’s no longer “too dangerous”

Comment by GoBulz Tuesday, Feb 8, 22 @ 12:16 pm
==But we’d all know what is driving the decision.==

I know it’s anecdotal, but covid exhaustion has taken root in my house. I just want the families of covid victims to acknowledge being unvaccinated…to help sway the undecided.

Comment by Jocko Tuesday, Feb 8, 22 @ 12:18 pm
To some extent JB would be doing a favor for school boards if he waited until the end of the school year. I don’t know what the political cost would be for him though.

Comment by Mason born Tuesday, Feb 8, 22 @ 12:18 pm
Some additional numbers from IDPH:

Previous lifting of mask requirements was mid May, 2021. We were at ~1500 hospitalized (7-day avg).

Masks were re-instated end of Aug, 2021. We were at about ~2250 hospitalized (7-day avg).

Today we are at ~3000 hospitalized (7-day avg) and falling fast.

My opinion is that we are getting close to being able to lift masking again. Coupled with the increased vaccination rate & therapeutics we are in a better position now.

Comment by Stu Tuesday, Feb 8, 22 @ 12:18 pm
=== What would make you feel that it’s no longer “too dangerous”===

Welp… starters…

=== 73.3 percent (NJ) vs. 62.6 percent (IL)===

I’d like to see us as a state hit above 70%

As you’ve made quite clear, you don’t care about vaccinations and kids and schools… I can show you where… so trying to have you grasp this might be futile.

Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Feb 8, 22 @ 12:19 pm
=He doesn’t want to lift the mask mandate for a reason.=

Politically I think it would be dangerous for him not to disclose why he wouldn’t lift the mask mandate. His political opponents would argue that he’s not lifting the mandate because it’s all about control. If he’s clear on what the metrics are that would result in mandates being lifted, he’s making it clear that we’re actually in control of our destiny, not the governor.

Comment by Pundent Tuesday, Feb 8, 22 @ 12:24 pm
===His political opponents===

What you’re arguing for there is what many of his opponents are demanding: Blatant politicization of pandemic management. I’d rather not see such a thing happen here like it’s happened in other states.

Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Feb 8, 22 @ 12:27 pm
…Also, if he did get blatantly political with it, I think he would lose a lot of support.

Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Feb 8, 22 @ 12:28 pm
The Bloomberg vaccine tracker has us at 65% compared to New Jersey at 70%. Each state is tracking their data a little bit differently, so their tracker keeps it apples to apples.

I think Pritzker should follow New Jersey’s lead on this.

Comment by Chicagonk Tuesday, Feb 8, 22 @ 12:33 pm
New Jersey is a different state, far away. What’s more relevant is the states adjacent to Illinois. How are states closest to Illinois doing. Even that doesn’t really matter because there’s a thing called federalism. If Illinois wants masks, masks they were have.

Comment by Steve Tuesday, Feb 8, 22 @ 12:37 pm
To delve deeper to my thought,

A good way to alleviate some of the real questions, and many of the phony angst to divide… set the vaccination rate (overall, no cross tab), like at 70% and that takes the politicalization of it away and lets a target even the CDC and others in the field say gets us closer to an “herd immunity”(?) type of place.

Wanna be anti-vaccination, welp, that ain’t helping getting masks over with…

Is it the best idea? It’s an idea, or a matrix, and big as arbitrary as merely say “we’ll know”

Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Feb 8, 22 @ 12:37 pm
I’d kind of like a metric that says “When X% of students are fully vaccinated, a district may stop masking.”

Which seems both prudent and, I admit, a bit vindictive.

Comment by Suburban Mom Tuesday, Feb 8, 22 @ 12:40 pm
I second what others have said: set some goalposts in terms of new cases, ICU capacity (maybe by IDPH region or COVID region), maybe even total or youth vaccination rate, then tell people the mask mandate goes away when we hit one or more of those numbers.

Comment by Benjamin Tuesday, Feb 8, 22 @ 12:43 pm
I have to confess as a strong follow-the-science-and-experts advocate, I am growing weary of the fight, and waning support, for these measures.

Provided that hospital access is maintained, the risk to my family is pretty low when boosted and N95 masked indoors.

If the unvaxxed and unmasked, including one of my siblings, are so desperate to put themselves at risk, I am losing the strength to try to convince them otherwise.

With Paxlovid and the less severe Omicron, perhaps the risk is now socially acceptable and I and the experts have just not quite caught up. So long as a new variant does not send us back to the start.

Comment by thechampaignlife Tuesday, Feb 8, 22 @ 12:44 pm
===I’d kind of like a metric that says “When X% of students are fully vaccinated, a district may stop masking.”===

That’s exactly what I was going to say. The ball is in your court, if you get unmasked sooner or unmasked later you have nobody to blame but yourself.

But overall I think the Jersey/Delaware timeframe is reasonable. Dropping masks in schools right now is a bad idea but we could make it happen some time in March if people do their part.

Comment by The Velvet Frog Tuesday, Feb 8, 22 @ 12:46 pm
===When X% of students are fully vaccinated, a district may stop masking===

I love it. Make it local. Not sure how enforcement would work, but surely most schools have someone that cares enough to report schools that are not following the rules.

Comment by thechampaignlife Tuesday, Feb 8, 22 @ 12:47 pm
I will say that where I am, where masking is universal, and vaccination rates are high, the sense among parents has been, we just have to get through February without closing the schools. Come March they can go back to eating lunch outside, they can have windows open, they can even move classes outside when they need to. But we all felt like, we really had to get through January and February without an outbreak shutting down the schools.

If our district decided to remove mask mandates in March, I would be okay with that. They’ve been trustworthy purveyors of good information throughout the pandemic (We get a daily update on district metrics), very transparent with parents, and very careful with our children. If in March they say, community transmission is low enough, and our schools are vaccinated enough, that we think it is safe to drop the mask mandate, I would feel comfortable with that.

When they do decide that, we’ll talk to our kids about it, and we’ll let them decide when they are comfortable. My youngest has never been to school (or any public place that she can remember) without a mask, and I think it might be a bit of a transition for her.

Comment by Suburban Mom Tuesday, Feb 8, 22 @ 12:48 pm
Vaccination rates are barely relevant as a guideline for removing mask mandates. One can catch and transmit the virus even if fully vaccinated.

Comment by phocion Tuesday, Feb 8, 22 @ 12:50 pm
It’s unrealistic and unreasonable to say that mask mandates or other restrictions should never be lifted. Yes there may be other variants or other diseases. Of course when the masks are lifted it should be clear that it’s not a promise that nobody will ever need to wear a mask again. But take the action, and if masks are needed again at some point in the future, do it then.

I think Nevada (Las Vegas) is tying there’s to a metric, including bringing it back if numbers go the other way. Seems like a reasonable way to handle it.

Comment by The Velvet Frog Tuesday, Feb 8, 22 @ 12:50 pm
Bill Maher had a great rant about the lack of precision with the pandemic.

https://youtu.be/or4vncEcuBo

Comment by Almost the Weekend Tuesday, Feb 8, 22 @ 12:52 pm
===Vaccination rates are barely relevant===

What?

It’s not that even the vaxed can transmit and get covid, it’s what that does to hospitals. Remember hospitals?

Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Feb 8, 22 @ 12:53 pm
Was at a HS basketball game last night at Calvary Academy in SPI, packed gym. I counted less than 10 people in my viewing area wearing masks. I’m no anti masker, but the pro mask arguments seems to have been lost.

Not sure the why and how, but masking has become something of a joke in Springfield.

Comment by Give Me A Break Tuesday, Feb 8, 22 @ 12:53 pm
Maybe a parlay?

Get to 70%, but if hospitals are at a certain level after, revisit masks until hospitals can recover.

Again, numbers and reasonable expectations and keeping resources at a front thought too?

Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Feb 8, 22 @ 12:56 pm
As Illinois gets closer to being the exception vs the rule it is going to get harder to not put out explicit metrics on when it can/will end.

“This is not a declaration of victory as much as an acknowledgment that we can responsibly live with this thing,”

That’s the money quote, is Illinois going to reach a point of ‘living with it’ sooner or later, I think another 3 months of continuous mask usage are going to go over really well here.

So my prediction is March 1st.

Also am I the only one who finds it interesting that when it comes to COVID we are one of the most ‘default to safety’ states but when it comes to motorcycle helmets we are the exact opposite. I understand the difference between the two and the role of ABATE. Just find the dichotomy interesting.

Comment by OneMan Tuesday, Feb 8, 22 @ 12:59 pm
A few observations:

(1) There is a new VOC (variant of concern) already well-established in some European countries, e.g. Denmark, and the Far East: Omicron BA.2. It’s even more contagious than the omicron variant currently dominant (BA.1), and shows evidence of being more capable of evading vaccine immunity.

I think JB probably has been informed of this by epidemiologists / IDPH officials - that he is unwilling to discuss his concerns publicly yet is probably a sign of caution.

(2) If one has had AB.1, there’s no guarantee of immunity from AB.2 (or from re-infection by AB.1 for that matter). If AB.2 gains a foothold in the U.S., we must anticipate millions of re-infections.

(3) The omicron variants are so transmissible that the requisite vaccination rate (estimated in the range of 85-90%) is simply unachievable. New Jersey’s rate is significantly higher than Illinois’, but it won’t provide herd immunity.

(4) While I understand the decision to use hospitalizations as the key metric in deciding whether to continue with mask mandates in congregate/ public facilities, I somehow felt more comfortable with case positivity rates. During the initial wave (alpha), it was maintained that the positivity rate needed to fall to around 3-5%. Illinois is near that right now (5.4%), but given the greater contagiousness of omicron variants, that might be too high …

It doesn’t appear we will conquer COVID now, and in addition to more (or completely) sterilizing vaccines, our best hope lies in better therapeutics to treat the disease in its initial stage.

Comment by dbk Tuesday, Feb 8, 22 @ 12:59 pm
Expecting a demi-surge 10-15 days after St Patrick’s day/Spring break.
I’ll be masking and wary until a couple weeks after that.

Comment by northsider (the original) Tuesday, Feb 8, 22 @ 1:03 pm
The two most relevant measures at this point are vaccination rates and hospitalizations. And that’s because they’re correlated. Now there’s a hope that hospitalizations could go down on their own if the virus mutates into a milder variant. But that really is just a hope. And it could just as easily go in the other direction.

Unfortunately I think we may have plateaued at a vaccination rate of about 63%. And absent vaccine mandates there doesn’t seem to be much that can be done to move off of that.

Comment by Pundent Tuesday, Feb 8, 22 @ 1:07 pm
==One can catch and transmit the virus even if fully vaccinated. ==

Catch and transmit at the same rate regardless of vaccination? Sure doesn’t seem like it.

Reducing the rate of transmission is a good thing even if it’s not possible to reduce to zero. Same goes with hospitalizations which is an even bigger factor.

When all the proper testing and approval is finished the next debate will be mandatory vaccinations for schools. And it’s a lot harder to argue against that considering that every state has already been doing it with other vaccines for decades. Hell, this country would probably save thousands of lives every year if schools required an annual flu shot (and yes, that’s taking into account that there are years where the success rate is fairly low).

Comment by The Velvet Frog Tuesday, Feb 8, 22 @ 1:07 pm
The IDPH website for School and Youth Data allows you to see data by county, as well as state wide, including Emergency Department (ED) visits for youth. At the county level, there are wide swings between counties on how many kids have been vaccinated. Some are lower than the even the entire state of New Jersey’s vax rate for kids. https://dph.illinois.gov/covid19/data/school-and-youth-data.html?county=Illinois

Comment by Anon221 Tuesday, Feb 8, 22 @ 1:17 pm
“Remember hospitals?”

Kids aren’t going to the hospital with covid. And kids aren’t getting covid in schools. Enough with the hysterical gaslighting.

Comment by DuPage Moderate Tuesday, Feb 8, 22 @ 1:22 pm
I don’t give a fig about what other states are doing at this point.

If jimmy jumps off of a bridge will you? Same argument.

The decision should be made based on what is happening here. And a 70% vax rate is a good place to start.

=Based on your logic jb needs to make mask permanent? =

Facebook is down the dial, you will find plenty of strawman arguments there.

Comment by JS Mill Tuesday, Feb 8, 22 @ 1:23 pm
To be fair, “It shouldn’t be lifted” sure sounds like that guy up there is asking for masks to be permanent. I hate straw men as much as you but this particular statement isn’t one.

Comment by The Velvet Frog Tuesday, Feb 8, 22 @ 1:32 pm
===Kids aren’t going to the hospital with covid===

Kids don’t teach themselves, don’t clean or administer their schools and don’t drive the bus.

Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Feb 8, 22 @ 1:38 pm
===Kids aren’t going to the hospital with covid===

Hmmm… Emergency Department visits would indicate otherwise between January 2022 and now. Yes, rates have fallen sharply since the last surge, and hopefully they will stay there. However… “Even with declines in COVID-19 cases around the country, more than 375,000 new cases were reported last week.

As raw numbers tick up, infectious disease doctors are noting an increase in cases of kids presenting with long COVID — a huge constellation of symptoms, many debilitating, that can follow even mild infections.” https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2022/02/08/children-long-covid-pandemic

Comment by Anon221 Tuesday, Feb 8, 22 @ 1:43 pm
Hey Willy,

Not sure why you keep obsessing on this point but just to be clear my position on school COVID-19 vaccine mandates is fairly commonplace and perfectly captured here

https://www.sfgate.com/politics-op-eds/article/California-vaccine-mandate-schools-COVID-omicron-16832461.php

Unfortunately Rich is constantly blocking me so I oftentimes don’t get a chance to respond to your misunderstanding me. But hopefully this clears it up!

Comment by GoBulsz Tuesday, Feb 8, 22 @ 1:49 pm
Everyone here touted the Arizona mask study which was then debunked by the Atlantic of all places.

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2021/12/mask-guidelines-cdc-walensky/621035/

Comment by Mitch R. Tuesday, Feb 8, 22 @ 1:59 pm
- GoBulz -

You wrote what you wrote…

===What I “want” is the majority of children to be able to attend in-person public school no matter what their parents decide about a COVID vaccine.===

However you want to be disingenuous about now or whatever…

You wrote what ya wrote

===my position on school COVID-19 vaccine mandates is fairly commonplace and perfectly captured here===

“Ok”… (sigh)

Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Feb 8, 22 @ 2:00 pm
===Kids aren’t going to the hospital with covid.===

At a recent school board meeting the token wackjob conspiracy theory board member kept saying this over and over for the whole meeting. Late in the meeting another board member shared that her kid had been hospitalized for covid. At which point the first board member backpedaled and tried to deny that he ever said it, even though the whole meeting was on video. Hilarious stuff.

I guess what you really meant to say that it’s relatively rare for kids to go to the hospital with covid. Try and be more careful so you don’t end up like that board member.

Comment by The Velvet Frog Tuesday, Feb 8, 22 @ 2:03 pm
Dr. Leana Wen on CNN : We’ve been following the science since the beginning, and over two years the science has changed. It’s time to remove some of the masking restrictions especially with respect to kids she says.

https://youtu.be/pIlRX-k75Qk

Comment by Responsa Tuesday, Feb 8, 22 @ 2:12 pm
In the updated guidance, the AAP recommended that all children aged 5 years and older receive COVID-19 vaccinations, that schools maintain universal indoor masking, that meal spaces be modified to reduce the risk for spread, and that schools prioritize testing kits for schools to distribute.
https://www.healio.com/news/primary-care/20220128/aap-urges-inschool-learning-be-prioritized-in-guidance-updates

Comment by very old soil Tuesday, Feb 8, 22 @ 2:15 pm
Did you watch the whole video? Leana Wen says lifting mask restrictions should be completely based on hospitalization numbers. Which is exactly what Pritzker just said.

Comment by The Velvet Frog Tuesday, Feb 8, 22 @ 2:17 pm
=To be fair=

Not sure what “fairness” has to do with it (trump whines about fair all of the time) but I am more interested in accurate.

To be accurate, @HP Dem did not say mask forever hence, strawman.

Comment by JS Mill Tuesday, Feb 8, 22 @ 2:24 pm
“It shouldn’t be lifted.”

Sure, let’s be accurate instead of fair. Sure he didn’t use the word “never” but how else would you interpret that comment? We’re talking about the literal meaning of the words he used.

He could have said “It shouldn’t be lifted NOW”. Or YET. If that’s what he intended, take it up with him for having poor communication skills.

Comment by The Velvet Frog Tuesday, Feb 8, 22 @ 2:31 pm
===Kids don’t teach themselves, don’t clean===

Off topic but…they probably should. One of the best ways to master a topic is to teach it to someone else. And improving your space builds community pride and teaches life skills.

Comment by thechampaignlife Tuesday, Feb 8, 22 @ 2:36 pm
I have been pro-mask, vaccinated and boosted but we can’t do this forever. Even California is ending next week. Let’s move on. Nothing is prohibiting those that want to wear a mask from doing it forever. Every adult and most kids that wants a vaccination can get one today. Let go!

Comment by Ben Tuesday, Feb 8, 22 @ 2:41 pm
I don’t believe masks forever! But I do think this is all way too premature. That’s all.

Comment by HP Dem Tuesday, Feb 8, 22 @ 3:12 pm
Lift the mask rule. Sick of placating I am not sure who at this point. We have to live with this thing. Get vaccinated. The mental health implications from how some of this has been handled are really big and unfortunate.

Comment by DMC Tuesday, Feb 8, 22 @ 3:22 pm
Thank you Dupage Moderate for speaking the truth.
End the mask mandates. They’re ineffective.

Comment by The Snowman Tuesday, Feb 8, 22 @ 3:26 pm
=== End the mask mandates. They’re ineffective.===

That’s inherently untrue. Otherwise those treating covid patients in hospitals wouldn’t wear them.

Stop the ridiculous angst.

Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Feb 8, 22 @ 3:28 pm
Dr. Wen (CNN) has been more towards the New Zealand end of the scale in terms of govt responses to covid. However, she says one of the reasons to lift mask mandates now is that a large percentage of the population no longer believes that masks are effective, and thus continued mask mandates erode the public’s trust in govt authority, which will make it more difficult to convince the public in the future to follow govt recommendations.

Comment by Trying to be Rational Tuesday, Feb 8, 22 @ 3:34 pm
=== a large percentage of the population no longer believes===

Doesn’t make it so.

Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Feb 8, 22 @ 3:38 pm
“speaking the truth”

Posted in response to a comment that’s literally, demonstrably false. That’s the internet equivalent of wearing an I’m With Stupid shirt.

Comment by The Velvet Frog Tuesday, Feb 8, 22 @ 3:54 pm
For me, the availability of a vaccine for the 6 months to 5 yrs will be a big milestone for decreasing masking. Until that cohort has protection, it is up to us to provide that.

Comment by Groundhog Day Tuesday, Feb 8, 22 @ 4:45 pm
===End the mask mandates. They’re ineffective.===

I think what you mean to say is that people are not wearing the correct masks correctly. N95 masks work when appropriately fitted and worn in higher risk situations (i.e., close indoor contact with non-household members). No exceptions for eating or drinking. That standard has not been taught or adopted, so the result is thin neck gaitors and loose noses that are removed for selfies and boisterous hourlong meals in packed, poorly ventilated eateries.

Comment by thechampaignlife Tuesday, Feb 8, 22 @ 5:10 pm