In the turmoil of the past two years - this period includes deadly epidemics, mass layoffs, divided presidential elections, and attacks on the U.S. Capitol - some of the most heated political debates in the United States have revolved around an almost weightless work. The fabric: mask.

US officials have been slow to use masks as a strategy to slow the spread of the coronavirus. When they finally did so, masks became a powerful symbol of the pandemic—a public health measure turned into a political hotspot and a clear reminder that life is definitely not normal.

Now, with the proliferation of deltas in the rearview mirror in the summer and the vaccination of school-age children is underway, many Americans want to know when the mask will finally be removed.

Dr. Stephen Ruby, an infectious disease expert and epidemiologist at Stanford University, said: “The best science does support that wearing masks is an effective strategy to reduce covid-19.”

"The question is: well, how long do we do this, and under what circumstances?" He added: "Are we wearing masks for the rest of our lives?"

Some public officials are already planning to end the game.

On Tuesday, Washington, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser announced that it would relax indoor mask requirements. The next day, Florida legislators passed a bill prohibiting schools from wearing masks, and some areas have already abandoned the bill.

A spokesperson for New York City’s mayor-designate Eric Adams said in an email that he “hopes that the school’s mask regulations will be lifted when health officials determine safety.”

Experts say that that time has not yet come.

Anne Rimoin, an epidemiologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, said: "The cases are starting to rise again, and we have not yet defeated this virus." "We may be tired of the new crown virus and the new crown virus restrictions and public health. Measures, but this virus has certainly not wiped out us."

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that even people who are fully vaccinated should wear masks in public indoor spaces where the virus is spread in "large or high" communities. Currently, approximately 85% of US counties meet this threshold, which means that there are at least 50 new cases per week for every 100,000 residents.

Scientists say it will be safer to relax mask requirements early next year after more children have been vaccinated and the holiday travel season has passed. They pointed out that in some cases, as well as in future cold and flu seasons, voluntarily wearing masks will continue to help.

"I don't think we want to put all the masks away," Luby said.

Multiple evidence supports the effectiveness of masks as a public health intervention.

Laboratory studies have shown that even the most basic cloth masks can block more than 50% of small aerosols; surgical masks and N95 respirators are even better. Real-world studies have shown that statewide and school-wide mask regulations can curb the spread of the virus.

A randomized trial conducted by Luby and his colleagues in 600 villages in Bangladesh showed that interventions to wear masks, including the distribution of free masks and multi-pronged information campaigns, have led to a substantial increase in the number of people wearing masks. Covid-19 The number of cases dropped. The research has not yet been published in a scientific journal.

Linsey Marr, an airborne virus expert at Virginia Tech, said that all of these studies have limitations, but they, along with many similar analyses, came to the conclusion that “masks help slow the spread”.

Masks are not without shortcomings. "They hinder communication," Marr said. "They may be uncomfortable."

Some people with disabilities may not be able to wear them, and there is still controversy about the advantages and disadvantages of wearing masks for young children, because they are much less likely to be seriously ill with the virus than adults. The CDC stated that children under 2 years of age should not wear masks, while the World Health Organization advises against requiring children under 6 years of age to wear masks.

But experts say that given that most people can tolerate masks well, and wearing masks is far less destructive than other mitigation measures such as blockades, masks are a key tool for responding to the pandemic.

Richard Stutt, an infectious disease modeler at the University of Cambridge, said: “I think in many ways, wearing a mask is one of the interventions you might want to relax at the end.” “As with most others. Compared with intervention measures, the cost of wearing a mask is very, very low."

The requirement to wear masks was never intended to last forever. This fall, with the decline in cases and the expansion of vaccine qualifications, some public officials began to consider how to end them.

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This month, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health announced its standards, including specific vaccination and transmission benchmarks, to eliminate some indoor shelter requirements.

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy recently stated that he hopes to cancel the state’s school mask requirement “as soon as possible” and proposed the idea of ​​phased out the requirement. Starting from high school, its teenage students have been there for several months. Eligible for vaccination.

But experts say that it is too early to relax the mask requirements, especially when we enter the winter, when people spend more time indoors, vacation travel will gather people from afar, and respiratory viruses can easily spread.

"This is not the time for me to reduce my masks," Luby said.

Marr advises not to abolish the school's requirement to wear masks before the end of the winter vacation, and that more school-age children have the opportunity to receive these two vaccines.

If the level of community transmission is low or moderate a few weeks after school resumes in January, then, "Yes, let us get rid of masks," she said.

Seema Lakdawala, a respiratory virus expert at the University of Pittsburgh, envisions a similar timetable: "Maybe in February, we can say goodbye to masks."

Other experts are unwilling to provide dates. Rimoin said that she hopes to see a more sustained reduction in the number of cases and deaths before the mask requirements are relaxed.

"We still see 1,000 deaths from this virus every day," she said. "It's not just a matter of comfort and ease-I mean, it's a matter of life and death for many people."

Scientists emphasize that the relaxation of mask restrictions needs to be determined locally, which depends on a series of complex factors, including local transmission and vaccination rates, and the vulnerability of relevant populations.

Stewart said: "If there is an outbreak in a region or a specific community, then I think that even in the whole country, things are fairly controlled, and it makes sense for people in that community to wear masks."

Even after the injunction is lifted, it makes sense for some people-such as the elderly or people with weakened immune systems-to wear masks in certain situations and environments. Scientists say that people should be prepared to put on masks again in the event of a surge in the future.

Experts also expressed the hope that the new mask wearing regulations will last longer than the pandemic.

Masks can help reduce the spread of other respiratory viruses. Experts say they plan to continue to wear masks in certain environments in future flu seasons, such as on airplanes and buses.

Mar said: "Before the pandemic, it was a shame to wear a mask in this country, but I think it has become the norm in many places."

Despite this, she admitted, "I don't think other people will wear masks anymore."

Lakdawala expressed the hope that with the relaxation of other epidemic restrictions, people will find that wearing a mask for a short period of time in certain high-risk situations will be less onerous.

"Hopefully as people become more comfortable with vaccination and realize that they can see their friends and family, they can safely perform daily activities, wear a mask within 20 minutes of the bus ride, you need to ride it Going to work is not considered a burden," she said. "This is seen as a way to protect yourself and your family."

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