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SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – A group of San Diego County doctors are urging county public health officials to reconsider its stance on mask and vaccine warrants, as COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations rise.
In a letter from the San Diego County Medical Society and the San Diego and Imperial Counties Hospitals Association, doctors asked Wilma Wooten, San Diego County Public Health Officer, and other senior officials to follow the rest of the state’s counties and reinstate an indoor mask mandate.
Doctors told ABC 10News anchor Lindsey Pena that seeing so many people without masks in public as cases skyrocket is concerning.
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“For us, the best way to control this is to either be vaccinated and wear a mask at least for the time being, especially indoors as we know these things are passed through the air,” said Dr Will Tseng, San Diego member. County Medical Society.
Tseng and others sent the letter to the county on Monday, reading in part: “We urge you to require indoor masking for all people, regardless of their immunization status. We also call on you to further protect our community by requiring vaccination for indoor meals, bars, gyms and entertainment venues. “
Tseng added that simply wearing a mask will drastically reduce transmission rates.
“If you wear a mask, you can reduce the risk of transmission from 66% to 16% if you can wear a mask,” Tseng said.
ABC 10News reached out to the county for comment on the letter, to which they responded:
“The county is reviewing the letter. We continue to follow the masking requirements of the California Department of Health. In most indoor environments, masks are mandatory for those who are vaccinated and recommended for those who are not.”
Tseng said he and other doctors were troubled by the increase in the number of patients with COVID-19 and feared that hospitals and healthcare workers would be overwhelmed again.
Compared to last month (7/20), the daily number of cases increased from 521 to 1,498 this weekend (8/21) in San Diego County. In the same period, the percentage of positive cases increased from 5.1% to 8.7%.
“All doctors are alike in that we want to make sure that our patients are doing well and right now we see that they are not doing well which is of concern to us,” Tseng said.
Just last week, Los Angeles County became the first county in California to reinstate a mask warrant at major outdoor events. California recently announced from September 20 that anyone attending an indoor event with more than 1,000 people must provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination or a negative test within 72 hours of the event to attend.
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