APPLETON, Wis. (NBC 26) — The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation released a new model, which calculated that an estimated 73 percent of Americans are now immune to the Omicron variant.
That's part of the reason why much of Northeast Wisconsin is starting to see mask mandates go away. But one doctor we spoke with advises Wisconsinites to caution that a model can provide false optimism.
"Obviously a lot of the mask mandates and a lot of the other mitigation that's been protecting these kids is being dropped," UW Health pediatric infectious disease Dr. Jim Conway said.
"We had tried to really go mask optional earlier in the year already," Appleton school board member Amanda Stuck said.
And now the time has almost come. School districts like Green Bay and Appleton are going mask optional on Feb. 28.
"As we've seen numbers fall, as we've seen businesses, other school districts around us move towards masks optional," Stuck said.
The loosening of Covid protocols isn't just taking place in the classroom. A face covering requirement for Neenah government buildings was dropped this week.
"I think it's a sign that we're going to start moving on past this," Stuck said. "Of course, something new could always potentially come up. So hopefully this has given us some lessons on how to address this next time and how we can work together as a community next time."
The CDC is expected to issue new mask guidance as early as next week.
So is this the new normal for Covid mitigation? Conway says not so fast.
"Some of these lifting of mandates, especially in areas with low vaccination rates, may be a little premature," he said.
The physician cites lacking vaccination rates for children ages 5 to 11 as a concern.
Since the first week of January, positive cases in Wisconsin have fallen at steady rate. On Wednesday, there were almost 1,200.
"Masks may not be a major disaster, but I think we're really nervous about… the young kids in school, because schools have always been the perfect breeding grounds for outbreaks," Conway said.
As more businesses, schools and cities rescind mandates, wearing a mask may largely be up to individual throughout the near future.
"I think you'll certainly still see probably increased use than what we were before Covid happened, just because some people learned that they liked them even just to keep things like flu and cold numbers down," Stuck said.
The CDC's next briefing is wednesday. Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky says a new masking recommendation might not be permanent if community case numbers rise. She says the newest guidelines will likely be based on local hospitalization rates.
