The Washington Post (WP) reported that manyDemocratsCities have canceled or forced people not to dress in public indoor placesfacial maskIt shows that as the new Crown pandemic enters its third year, even in places where it has always been believed that mask orders can reduce the spread of the pandemic, support for mask orders is slowly gaining ground. – has cooled slowly, and it is more difficult to restore. this regulation.
New York City raised its new Crown Alert level last week, recommending forcing people to wear masks in public indoor settings; Philadelphia officials reinstated the mask order in April after the number of confirmed cases in Philadelphia increased, but it was lifted four days later. It became effective.
Over the past few months, Democratic states and cities have gradually lifted mask orders, even as cases of the highly infectious subtype variant BA.2 have climbed. When the Democratic governor lifted the mask order in February and March, he called on residents to learn how to coexist with the new coronavirus; Now the rise in cases of other subspecies strains such as BA.2 on the East Coast will begin preliminary testing.
When the last time the epidemic was hot, the number of cases did not increase, and the hospital was not full; Many local governments did not intend to vigorously promote the mask order, with a federal judge revoking the federal mask order for transportation systems in April. , and with President Biden saying it is up to passengers to decide whether to wear masks, many transportation units and Democratic states have also dropped the requirement to wear masks on trains and buses.
However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reiterated on Day 4 that passengers are recommended to wear masks during transportation; If people are in high-risk communities, it is recommended that they continue to wear masks. In particular, the definition of high risk has changed to focus on hospital admissions and medical energy load rather than new cases.
If the number of new confirmed cases rises again in the future, public health officials said the extent to which the mask order can be enforced would only be higher, as new cases are not as worrying as before. The COVID-19 vaccine is still potent enough to prevent serious illness and death, especially in the elderly and immunocompromised. In addition, the oral antiviral drug Paxlovid provides another layer of protection if the condition of those diagnosed continues to worsen.
However, some experts and rights advocates worry that low-income households and people of color will bear the brunt if public health agencies dismantle their anti-epidemic weapons too quickly, because they have less access to the population. There is a high proportion of those who commute to work and take crowded public transportation, and a low proportion of booster shots.
voteThis shows that support for mask orders continues to dwindle. According to a poll conducted by political news websites Axios and Ipsos in early April, 56% of Americans oppose state or local governments that require wearing masks in public, the first since a vote in August last year. Times. People were against it.
A Quinnipiac University survey in April found that more than half of Americans oppose a mandate to wear masks on public transportation, but they will continue to wear them on planes, trains and buses.
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