Question: What is the collective response from the scientific community about so many states now lifting their mask mandates?   

Answer: You’d be hard pressed to find many (any?) public health experts who support lifting mask mandates at this point in the pandemic.  Just yesterday, Dr. Fauci cautioned against lifting COVID mitigation measures during an interview with CBS’s Face the Nation stating, “don’t turn the switch on and off because it really would be risky to have yet again another surge, which we do not want to happen, because we’re plateauing a quite a high level– 60K-70K new infections per day is quite high.”  

And just this past Friday, CDC’s MMWR published this research article, Association of State-Issued Mask Mandates and Allowing On-Premises Restaurant Dining with County-Level COVID-19 Case and Death Growth Rates, which found that implementing mask mandates was associated with reduced SARS-CoV-2 transmission, infections, and deaths, whereas reopening restaurants for on-premises dining was associated with increased transmission, infections, and deaths (Figure 1).  The researchers emphasized, “Policies that require universal mask use and restrict any on-premises restaurant dining are important components of a comprehensive strategy to reduce exposure to and transmission of SARS-CoV-2. Such efforts are increasingly important given the emergence of highly transmissible SARS-CoV-2 variants in the United States.”

Figure 1. Mask Mandates Slowed Cases and Deaths (from CDC)