Ditching the mask: 'Go slow,' experts caution

WASHINGTON: More than 15 months after the novel coronavirus raged across the country, data-driven Americans are still coming to grips with personal and public health protocols to keep the virus at bay as the country races to meet the best known counter: fully vaccinating its population.
Norms relating to masks, social distancing, and personal protection mandates are constantly being revised in what has become a learning process even for scientists and researchers. Among the latest startling updates: the ubiquitous plexiglass barrier is not such a good idea after all.
Experts are now saying deploying plexiglass is as bad an idea as keeping people cooped up indoors or in enclosed spaces: it potentially traps the virus and allows it to infect more easily than allowing it to disperse.
"The dominant path (of the virus) is through the air, and air does not abide by the rules of plexiglass. In fact, there is a strong argument that it makes it worse. To become infected with COVID-19, a person must inhale enough “viral load” to start a reaction in the human respiratory system. By putting plexiglass in place, the viral load concentration is increased, and so is the probability of infection," Paul Bemis, an airborne pathogen transmission expert," said in a recent comment, arguing that "removing the plexiglass would reduce the concentration, along with the probability of infection."
Bemis says the only condition in which plexiglass would possibly help is the case of someone sneezing or coughing directly in front of you without turning away or covering their nose/mouth. But that, he says, was very rare prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, and is even more rare now.
The CDC has also updated its guidance to say the probability of contracting COVID-19 from surface transmission, including direct contact (handshake) or indirect contact (doorknob) is fairly low, with airborne transmission being the main threat. It has also relaxed mask mandates for those who are fully vaccinated.
"The science is clear: If you are vaccinated against COVID-19, you are safe. The vaccines work. You can take off your mask and are not at risk of severe disease or hospitalization. If you are not vaccinated, you are not safe. Please get vaccinated or continue to wear a mask," the agency said this week.
Even so, some experts are advising a go-slow policy to Americans all too eager to throw away their masks, counsel that some states like California are following.
Brown University's Dean of Public Health Ashish Jha is among those suggesting holding off lifting indoor mask mandates till June 15 because that's when most Americans would be vaccinated and infections will be way down. Right now, lifting mask mandates would mean those vaccinated could be mixing with unvaccinated, unmasked folks indoors, which could be a risky proposition.