On Monday’s broadcast of NPR’s “All Things Considered,” White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha said that he can see, over the next few weeks, “as you see local cases go up, public health measures get put into place and as infections and hospitalizations fall, public health measures get released. That’s a pretty reasonable way to manage a pandemic, and I think that’s great.”
NPR International Correspondent Daniel Estrin asked, [relevant remarks being around 2:10] “[C]ases are ticking up and many being by the BA.2 variant. They’re still lower than the height of the Omicron, but Philadelphia just announced this afternoon that it plans to reinstitute a mask mandate next week because cases are going up there. Do you envision a scenario where some pandemic restrictions will need to be reintroduced in other places?”
Jha responded, “So, first and foremost, these are decisions that should always be made at a local level. So, I like that feature of what Philadelphia’s doing. And they should be driven really by the realities on the ground, and CDC has laid out pretty clear guidance of communities and community spread and recommendations. I can very much imagine, in the weeks and months ahead, as you see local cases go up, public health measures get put into place and as infections and hospitalizations fall, public health measures get released. That’s a pretty reasonable way to manage a pandemic, and I think that’s great. I’m happy to see that being done in places across the country.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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