By Mike Hazlip—
Citrus Heights Councilman Bret Daniels pushed back against the state’s recent announcement that mask mandates would be lifted for only vaccinated people, questioning in a social media post Wednesday whether the decision was an attempt to “shame” those who have not been vaccinated against COVID-19.
“Science also tells us that those vaccinated CAN still get Covid, and likely will, but their symptoms will be fewer,” wrote Daniels in his post, which quickly drew more than 100 comments and reactions. “But they will still be contagious and may not even know or believe they have Covid.”
“An unvaccinated person is more likely to show symptoms and realize they probably have Covid,” Daniels continued. “So does the mask mandate for unvaccinated people even make sense??? Or is it to shame the unvaccinated into getting the jab?”
Daniels posted his comments accompanying a link he shared from Sacramento County on Feb. 16, announcing the county’s decision to rescind its mask requirement for most indoor public settings, which had been in effect since July 26. The move aligns county guidelines with a recent state order, which requires all unvaccinated individuals to continue wearing face coverings in all indoor public settings.
Asked to respond to Daniels’ comments, Sacramento County Public Information Officer Samantha Mott told The Sentinel in an email Thursday that the county “does not currently have a health order in place regarding masks.” Mott said the mask mandates are at the state level and referred any additional questions to the California Department of Public Health.
In an email response to The Sentinel Thursday, the California Department of Public Health Office of Communications quoted a CDC Science brief, stating: “Masks work best when everyone wears one. The community benefit of masking for SARS-CoV-2 control is due to the combination of source control and filtration for wearer protection; individual prevention benefit increases with increasing numbers of people using masks consistently and correctly.”
The department also said “Wearing a mask in settings where there may be exposure to COVID-19 remains essential during the COVID-19 pandemic. It will help prevent both you and others from getting COVID-19.”
The department was provided with Daniels’ full comment and asked for a response, but the agency did not address the councilman’s specific questioning about the reason for the distinction made between vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals in the state’s revised mask mandate.
Daniels has been a vocal critic of coronavirus-related lock downs and also said he was not vaccinated when he contracted COVID-19 in July of last year. Describing his bout with the virus, Daniels said previously on Facebook that he initially had a cough and torso pain that “felt like it had been beat with a baseball bat,” but later had diminishing symptoms and “just a little congestion now and then and an occasional mild short-term fever.”
Daniels also said in his social media post this week that “science tells us that those that have had Covid are the most protected class and not likely to catch Covid again,” although some commenters challenged his claim. In response, Daniels posted an article from Healthline.com cited data showing protection after natural immunity can be up to five years, but also varies between each person.
“There are some people who have the notion that after you’ve gotten a natural infection, you will be permanently protected against COVID-19 as if this were measles,” Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of preventative medicine and infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, told Healthline. “But the two viruses that cause these infections are very, very different. The coronavirus protection wanes naturally after a period of time.”
The article cited an October 2021 study by the Yale School of Public Health which found unvaccinated people could have immunity against reinfection from between 3 months to as long as five years, under endemic conditions.
The California Department of Public Health Office of Communications did not respond to follow up questions about any studies the state has conducted regarding immunity in unvaccinated individuals who have recovered from COVID.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says there are mixed conclusions for natural immunity with concerns surrounding the unpredictability of the human immune system response and unknown individual exposure levels to the virus. The agency says individuals “should get a COVID-19 vaccine even if you already had COVID-19,” and also recommends a booster shot at least five months after completing initial vaccination due to studies showing protection waning over time.
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By Mike Hazlip—
Citrus Heights Councilman Bret Daniels pushed back against the state's recent announcement that mask mandates would be lifted for only vaccinated people, questioning in a social media post Wednesday whether the decision was an attempt to "shame" those who have not been vaccinated against COVID-19.
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