Former FDA Chief Dr. Scott Gottlieb Declares We Can Start Lifting Indoor Mask Mandates ‘Right Around Now’
Dr. Scott Gottlieb argued we can begin lifting indoor mask mandates designed to mitigate the spread of Covid-19 in a Thursday night appearance on The News with Shepard Smith.
The former Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration during the Trump administration has become a frequent teller of hard truths during the coronavirus pandemic, and harsh critic of Trump’s handling, so his words should not be dismissed as populist platitudes for those eager to hear it.
“We’ve seen all the data and it looks fantastic,” anchor Shep Smith noted. “Doctor, at this rate, if things fall our way with the vaccine, when do you think the CDC can have a meaningful conversation about lifting the mask mandates indoors?”
“I think we can do it right around now,” Dr. Gottlieb replied. “I think we should start lifting these restrictions as aggressively as we put them in. We need to preserve the credibility of public health officials to perhaps reimplement some of these provisions as we get into next winter if we do start seeing outbreaks again. And the only way to earn public credibility is if you relax things when things improve; that gives you credibility to influence them if things worsen.”
Smith then offered his own personal account that is a common refrain among many in querying his guest about the need for indoor mitigation mandates at this point. “I’m fully vaccinated; everybody on my team in this building is fully vaccinated; we still socially distance; we still wear masks at every moment I’m not sitting out here and way distant. Should we be taking our masks off? do we not need to wear those anymore?”
“Over the course of this month, we’re going to see the picture improve sharply that by the end of the month we will be lifting mask mandates certainly outdoors but municipalities will lift them indoors as well, certainly as we get into May and June,” Gottlieb noted. “I think it will be self-evident the prevalence declined where the risk just isn’t what it was.”
Watch above via CNBC.
