Jeffco Public Health has announced their intention to rescind Public Health Order 21-006, lifting mask mandates for all, including schools, on Friday, February 18, 2022. We saw what happened when the CDC and state/county health departments lifted mask mandates prematurely last year; it backfired horribly and Covid case numbers soared.

Our current case average is comparable to December of 2020 and we're still amidst cold and flu season, so to lift masks now is thoughtless and dangerous. CDPHE still recommends that Coloradans continue wearing a mask inside regardless of mandates.

Despite the loosening rules, health experts say widespread use of masks can help dampen future waves of COVID-19 and slow down the evolution of harmful variants. It’s also still a simple and effective measure that can protect families, since COVID-19 isn’t going away any time soon. It's estimated that by late February, about one in 100 people will be contagious, which is still more widespread in Colorado than it was during the summer of 2021.

State epidemiologist Dr. Rachel Herlihy and Covid-19 incident commander Scott Bookman have confirmed that the highly contagious omicron variant is spreading widely in Colorado, that three cases of its subvariant — BA.2 — have been detected here, and that Coloradans should continue to wear masks indoors.

The current thinking is based on projections and guesses only. We need to wait until we do reach herd immunity to consider lifting the masks, not until when we think we'll reach herd immunity. We're tired of watching the leaders of our health departments and school districts base their decisions on politics and pressure from the misguided anti-mask community. Our leaders' decisions and timing should be based only on current science (not projections) and what's right for public health. This decision to rescind completely disregards our large community of children under 5 who don't have the option to vaccinate yet. Our health and school leaders need to learn from past mistakes and not make decisions that they later regretfully admit were premature and wrong. Our schools have remained open because of the masks. Our hospitals and medical workers are finally seeing a decline in Covid cases. All of this progress need not be reversed with this thoughtless and hasty decision.