California officials outline a plan that assumes the coronavirus and its variants will ebb and flow, requiring flexibility in such activities as mask wearing.
California state officials released a pandemic plan Thursday that gives an overview of how authorities will manage potential new surges, warning that while the Omicron surge is fading, the state must be prepared for the emergence of new variants and seasonal increases in coronavirus transmission.
Speaking from a warehouse in Fontana on Thursday, Gov. Gavin Newsom said, “we recognize with humility that we don’t know what we don’t know as it relates to the future, but we have never been more prepared for that future.”“It’s in that spirit of optimism that we now move into a new phase of addressing the challenges and realities of this disease,” he said.
“Today is not about moving on but, rather, about moving forward,” California health and human services secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly said. Now, with understanding under our belt of how to rapidly assess a new variant, “we’ve moved in a relative state of fear for much of the last few years. We can now balance these concerns by being smarter.”
Even as California state officials have dropped an indoor mask mandate statewide for settings such as stores, restaurants and gyms, Ghaly and other health officials have suggested there may come a time when it might be appropriate to re-implement mask orders to keep hospitals from becoming overwhelmed again.
“I know that everyone is anxious to move beyond this pandemic and some of the ways we have had to change the way we live over the last two years,” she said during a briefing. “We all share the same goal: to get to a point where COVID-19 is no longer disrupting our daily lives; a time when it won’t be a constant crisis, rather something we can prevent, protect against and treat.”New L.A. Unified schools chief said he is conferring with medical experts and expects an announcement soon.
Currently, Ghaly has said the state is strongly recommending masks still be worn in indoor public settings. “For some, the strong recommendation that we currently have should be heeded as the time to use a high-quality, high-filtering mask as a life saving tool — those with underlying conditions; those who are immunocompromised, those who can’t yet for one reason or another be vaccinated.”
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