UPDATE: State Health Officials Hesitant To Lift School Mask Mandates; Will Reassess in 2 Weeks
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- Even with new COVID cases in a steep decline, California Health and Human Services Secretary Mark Ghaly said Monday that officials are still not comfortable enough to end the state's universal mandate requiring masks in the classroom.
Speaking to reporters, Ghaly said his department would reassess the situation in two weeks. If conditions continue to improve, the mandate will likely be lifted.
"It's not a question of if, it's a question of when," he said. "We don't make hasty decisions. We will take the collection of information together to make a decision that is good for California."
But for now, it's status quo.
"I know there's a lot of discussion on masking and there's a tremendous amount of energy and focus on it. It's important," said Dr. Ghaly.
Parents, teachers, and health experts wanting school mask mandates to remain, can mark today's decision as a win.
"Unless you can show me that there's significant morbidity to wearing a mask and really have firm data that shows that children just can't learn with a mask on, I think the scales clearly tilt towards protecting our children," said UC Berkeley Professor of Infectious Diseases Dr. John Swartzberg.
The state's latest guidance on masking is available at the California COVID website.
The delay is likely to trigger another avalanche of criticism from parents who have demanded an end to the wearing of masks in the classroom. But the latest CDC advice still recommends indoor masking by all students, staff, teachers and visitors to K-12 schools, regardless of vaccination status.
In California, fewer 33 percent of children between age 5 and 11 are fully vaccinated. Vaccination rates are higher in the Bay Area, with San Francisco at 50 percent and Marin County at 70 percent.
State officials remain vague about a definitive off-ramp, saying a combination of factors, not a single metric, will be considered at the end of the month including case count, positivity rate, and what remains a very low vaccination rate, fewer than 1 in 3 statewide for children in the 5-to-11 year range.
"That change is going to be one that will be met with a lot of excitement in some and fear in some other circles," said Ghaly.
"I think there's just so much confusion, if other states are lifting restrictions, and not California, it just becomes a sort of confusing aspect of what's our metrics versus everyone else's metric," said UCSF Infectious Diseases Professor Dr. Monica Gandhi.
States and school districts requiring masks have dropped significantly.
Burbio.com, the school tracking website, shows the percentage of the country's top 500 districts requiring masks fell from about 74% last October, to 56 percent now.
"I think that an eye towards the child as a whole child is an important thing to think about and adult safety and we put all those together, and then we come up with a metric and points for masking," said Gandhi.
Even if the state rolls back eventually, some believe school mandates can and should return again based on changing conditions, but also acknowledge patience is wearing thin for many.
"I think at some point the American public is just losing it in terms of saying you know we just don't have the fortitude to keep up a lot of the things that are keeping us safe right now, and so, and I think the politicians are sensing that and they're making a decision based upon that," said Swartzberg.
"If we're still seeing a lot of COVID cases in the community, it may make sense to tie it to vaccinations," UCSF infectious disease specialist Dr. Peter Chin-Hong told KPIX last week.
Dr. Chin-Hong believes lifting the school mandate now with current case rates, will lead to more transmission and student absences.
"We want the kids to stay in their seats as long as possible and not have any disruptions to classes," he said. "So as long as there's a little bit of virus circulating around, wearing a mask for some kids is a good idea."
By Wednesday, vaccinated individuals in every Bay Area county except Santa Clara will be able to ditch their masks in most indoor social settings. The change covers office workers, gym members and other "stable cohorts" of people.
Kenny Choi contributed to this story.