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Ventura County’s health officer expressed confidence Tuesday that circumstances in the battle against the coronavirus will improve to the point that the vast majority of people will no longer need masks, possibly later this year.
Dr. Robert Levin said conditions favoring the lifting of mask mandates could be met if cases continue to fall, early treatment medications become more accessible and any new variants cause milder illness similar to omicron.
“I’m confident it will happen in the future. I’m optimistic it will happen later this year,” Levin said after a county Board of Supervisors meeting.
If risks fall and treatment improves, he said, mask recommendations would likely be reserved for people with compromised immunities and others at the highest risk of COVID illness.
A case rate that peaked more than two weeks ago at 287.6 infections a day per 100,000 people has fallen to an average of 187.1 cases a day, according to state public health data posted Tuesday. Levin said transmission risks will likely remain high for several weeks. He emphasized that vaccinations, masking and other precautions are still needed.
“We’re in the middle of a surge,” he said.
Predictions of a mostly maskless future could be altered by the emergence of new variants. Levin expressed hope any new mutation is an offspring of omicron and causes less severe illness than previous strains.
More:Ventura County COVID infection rate finally falling — but still alarming
Tim McCarthy of Thousand Oaks, a candidate for the Board of Supervisors District 2 seat and founder of the conservative Move the Needle group, asked the county on Tuesday to cancel all mask and vaccine requirements for children under the age of 17. He argued masks disrupt learning and communication.
Children are at very low risk for COVID-19 and the benefits of masks in preventing them from getting sick is “infinitesimally small,” McCarthy said, suggesting face coverings are an attempt to prevent the spread to adults.
“When is it ethical to burden our children for the benefit of adults?” he asked.
Public health officials acknowledged COVID-19 risks are lower for children but still exist and can bring conditions like the inflammatory syndrome known as MIS-C and the marathon of symptoms that come with long-haul COVID-19.
Levin said masks are a needed tool.
“It’s not scientifically sound, it’s not medically sound and it’s not public health sound to get rid of masks now,” he said after the meeting.
State projections suggest COVID hospitalizations in Ventura County could continue to rise but likely will fall just short of the record 449 patients who received care for the virus at the height of last winter’s surge. Hospitals are still packed and incoming ambulances often have to wait with patients for beds to open, delaying them from responding to other calls.
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Steve Carroll, administrator of the Ventura County Emergency Medical Services Agency, said state officials authorized a request for aid by assigning four outside paramedics to Los Robles Regional Medical Center in Thousand Oaks. Similar teams are expected to be assigned to St. John’s hospitals in Oxnard and Camarillo.
“It’s basically a little bit of relief for our local ambulance system,” he said.
The omicron surge also spawned a dramatic rise in demand for COVID-19 tests. New test sites have been opened in Moorpark, Oxnard and Thousand Oaks, with more on the way.
Rigoberto Vargas, director of Ventura County Public Health, said that at the height of the surge 3,000 tests came up positive in a day, far more than in any previous surge. He said the county has also distributed nearly 70,000 free home kits, many of them through a network of community and social service groups.
For more information on COVID-19 testing, see: venturacountyrecovers.org/coronavirus-testing.
Tom Kisken covers health care and other news for the Ventura County Star. Reach him at tom.kisken@vcstar.com or 805-437-0255.
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