The most prestigious law school admissions discussion board in the world.
|
 |
 
|
Should you ‘forever’ mask in some settings? Here’s what UCSF’s Bob Wacht
| Crystalline boltzmann office | 02/04/23 |
Poast new message in this thread
Date: February 4th, 2023 3:55 PM Author: Crystalline boltzmann office Should you ‘forever’ mask in some settings? Here’s what UCSF’s Bob Wachter and other COVID experts are doing
Danielle Echeverria Updated: Feb. 1, 2023 5:45 p.m. Comments
Danielle EcheverriaJan. 30, 2023 This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate
3
COVID experts and Dr. Wachter on wearing masks ‘forever’ in situations. Aaron Mayfield (left) of San Francisco; Lisa Halton of San Francisco; Juan Salazar, a Rainbow Grocery worker; and Joye Watson of San Francisco had various reasons for wearing a mask or not. 1of3 COVID experts and Dr. Wachter on wearing masks ‘forever’ in situations. Aaron Mayfield (left) of San Francisco; Lisa Halton of San Francisco; Juan Salazar, a Rainbow Grocery worker; and Joye Watson of San Francisco had various reasons for wearing a mask or not. Lea Suzuki / The Chronicle In one of his now-trademark Twitter threads detailing his approach to living amid the COVID-19 pandemic, UCSF chair of medicine Dr. Bob Wachter recently shared with his thousands of followers that while he’s open to taking more risks as cases in the Bay Area come down, there are some situations in which he’ll almost always mask up — forever.
In public transit and at large gatherings, he’ll “Plan to wear a mask (always a KN95; why not wear a good mask if you’re going to mask?), likely forever,” he wrote. “I’m comfortable taking it off briefly to eat on a long flight, but will try to keep it on when I can.”
Popping into a crowded grocery store, he’ll keep it on, but in an empty corner store for a quick ice cream run, he likely won’t bother.
At 65, healthy, fully vaccinated and boosted, and so far COVID-free, he said he wants to “live life fully” and is now comfortable dining out indoors with family and friends or going to small indoor gatherings, so long as cases are low. With his 87-year-old mother in Florida, where the case rate is much higher than in the Bay Area, he’ll be more cautious and eat outdoors.
Wachter’s risk calculus is similar to many health experts in the Bay Area, each of whom stressed that it’s mostly up to individual risk calculus at this point in the pandemic. While all said they’re open to more risk-taking in some situations, they don’t see any harm in continuing to mask in more crowded public spaces.
Coronavirus Resources |