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| Not everyone wants to take it off. |
By Stephanie Magallon, February 12, 2022
NBC-4 Bay Area
UC Berkeley may be setting a precedent for schools across the state. The university recently announced that they will be following the state and the city of Berkeley in dropping masks in most indoor settings after Feb. 27. “Awesome. I can’t wait for it, the masks have been destroying my social life,” said UC Berkeley student Jay Liu.
The university said that starting Feb. 28th, fully vaccinated and boosted faculty and students can drop their masks in most indoor settings. But some UC Berkeley students said they are concerned and think it’s too soon. “Now that they are lowering the mask mandate and not providing online accommodations, it really is a slap in the face to everyone,” said UC Berkeley student Laura Nguyen.
Health experts like Dr. Monica Gandhi of UCSF said that she supports the move. She told NBC Bay Area Saturday that the Bay Area has higher vaccination rates, more immunity after the omicron surge and now, we have therapeutics. “There’s just lots going on in the world where adults are starting to have normal lives in this country and yet college students are less at risk than any other group and they are vaccinated so it really does make sense for this group for colleges to stop their restrictions,” she said.
Other experts like Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, also of UCSF said that if everyone is vaccinated, then it’s OK to not have mandates, but that doesn't mean we shouldn’t wear masks. “Critically those who are immune compromised or if they live off-campus and they live with elderly relatives or they are unboosted, they may want to take it really carefully and wear masks,” he said.
Note that UCLA is likely to follow LA County guidelines. At present, LA County is talking about dropping the mandate in late March or April. So, it seems likely that UCLA will go through the winter quarter masked, but that the spring quarter may be different.
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