Covid Mask: Experts say mask obligations may not be necessary for now

Fear of resting fear COVID Restrictions have been relaxed and some experts say it’s strict for two years mask Mandates cause fatigue and can be removed from public places for now, as many countries have done.

The message about the benefits of masking needs to continue, but if there is another wave of Covid to improve compliance, it’s wise to remove the mandate and reintroduce it, experts say. Problems that pointed out the uselessness of proper masks and the lack of community consensus.

“The problem is compliance fatigue,” said Ramanan Laxminarayan, director of the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics and Policy in Washington, pointing out that many countries around the world have lifted mask restrictions. , Told PTI.

Gautam Menon, a professor of physics and biology at Ashoka University, Haryana, said, “I strongly encourage you to send a message about the usefulness of masking in a closed space, but it does not suggest that it should be done disciplined. No, “he added.

This guarantee was obtained as India’s Covid graph fell, 1,109 new coronavirus infections were reported on Friday, and one new Covid strain in Mumbai was also reported.

On Wednesday, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) was the first in India. Omicron Recombinant strain XE. but. INSACOG, which monitors the genomic mutations in SARS-CoV-2 in India, has decided to conduct another round of genomic sequencing at the National Laboratory for confirmation.

“Recombinant” means that the genome of XE is a combination of the genomes of the BA.1 and BA.2 subvariants of Omicron.

India has the lowest number of COVID-19 cases in two years, and some states, including Delhi, Maharashtra, Punjab, and Haryana, have abolished forced use of masks.

Epidemiologist Lakshmi Narayan said that in the future, the general public may need to resume using masks if there are other varieties or waves. “But if you keep these requirements indefinitely, the general public will not take them seriously, so we recommend that you remove them and reintroduce them as needed,” Laxminarayan said. explained.

Scientist and modeler Menon agreed.

Given that the BA.2 submutant of the Omicron coronavirus mutant caused a surge in India during the third wave, he said, it should be possible to relax masking restrictions in public spaces. rice field.

“Compliant with Covid boosters is probably more important than forcing a mask.”

“We need to think of ways to get back to normal life. Given what we know, this time it seems better than any other way. The pandemic lessons have taken hold and from new varieties. I hope to deal with the future rise in the case. People are now accustomed to the restrictions, so it will be easier, “he added.

Immunologist Satyajit Rath said it was a “mistake” to pretend that a pandemic was no longer a national responsibility, but merely an individual responsibility.

Rath of the National Institute of Immunology (NII) in Delhi told PTI that “permanent use of’law and order’style policies, such as all restrictions, is particularly widespread and long-lasting. Is a mistake. ”

He also warned that lifting mask restrictions could convince people that the pandemic was over and reduce their overall defense against illness.

“It will certainly be, but masking is accessible to people in the first place, cheap, reusable, without providing effective masks, and without building a community consensus on masking. It didn’t help much to “mandatory”, “he added.

As numbers decline and obligations are lifted, people are wondering if it is possible to avoid the trade-off between returning to a pre-pandemic lifestyle and increasing Covid-related deaths. ..

Recent modeling studies in the United States have shown that relaxing masking obligations and other restrictions “recovers” COVID-19-related deaths in most states.

An analysis published in the journal JAMA Health Forum modeled various dates for lifting obligations, assuming that the current pace of vaccination in the United States will be maintained in the future.

“The inevitable rebound in mortality was directly due to the Omicron variant. When the analysis was repeated assuming the infectivity of the previous Alpha and Delta variants, the model relaxed the mask obligation. After that, he did not anticipate such an increase in mortality, “said Benjamin P. Linus, lead author and professor of medicine at the University of Boston School of Medicine.

March, World Health Organization A combination of factors such as false information that the pandemic is over, removal of mask obligations, elimination of physical distance, and a more contagious variant of Omicron BA.2 is a case of COVID-19 worldwide. Warned that it is causing an increase in.

Many countries, including China, are still witnessing an increase in new Covid cases.

Addressing concerns, Menon said that given the current levels of vaccination and population exposure in India, future waves are unlikely to cause as much damage as last year’s second wave of the Delta variant. rice field.

Cumulative doses administered domestically under the national COVID-19 vaccination drive have exceeded 185.20 chlores.

In Russ’s view, the “seriousness” of the disease is diminished by the spread of previous immunity and infection, but it is true that the more rapidly the virus spreads, the more problems the health system becomes.

“Also, the more the virus spreads, the more likely it is that variants with new characteristics will emerge,” he added.

Menon added that masking has no significant impact, as the number of cases is lower than ever and the positive test rate is very low at this time.

He suggested that not only was it appropriate to consider opening, but it was also time to enhance surveillance for abnormal elevations in cases and genomic analysis of new mutants.

“Such monitoring can also include testing for the presence of virus in wastewater, as it has proven to be a good precursor to disease trajectories.”