NBC Medical analyst Dr. Vin Gupta believes it is too early to no longer require children to wear masks in schools, suggesting that summer months may be a better time but cautioning that they may have to “reinstitute” some of the controls, come winter.
“Dr. Gupta. Do you think it’s time for school mask mandates to end nationwide? I live with kids who are more than willing to wear their masks, and it’s my parents who complain about my children having to wear masks, but my kids don’t mind it,” MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle remarked.
“Not yet. Here on February 8, not yet,” Gupta responded, predicting that the U.S. will be at an endemic phase as spring and summer approach.
“Warmer more humid air will mean less transmission,” he said, adding that there will be and more population level immunity by April 1.
So come winter time, he continued, “we will have the credibility to reinstitute some of these controls if we need to.”
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His remarks come as blue state governors across the country begin to lift school mask mandates, two years after the start of the Chinese coronavirus pandemic.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D), for example, announced on Monday that he will lift the school’s mask mandate March 7. Similarly, Delaware Gov. John Carney (D) is lifting the statewide mask mandate February 11, although children must remain masked up until March 31.
Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont (D) is lifting the state’s school mask mandate February 28, and even Oregon, which changed the status of its indoor mask rules from “temporary” to “permanent,” plans to lift the school mask mandate March 31.