Ivan Radic / CC
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) — Despite Green Bay’s mask mandate ending, healthcare officials are still recommending they be worn indoors.
Green Bay’s mandate ended on Tuesday night after the city council opted not to extend it.
It’s likely many businesses will still mandate masks indoors, but others inevitably will not. Dr. Brad Burmeister with Bellin Health encourages people to wear them anyway.
“Even though that people don’t feel like it might make a huge difference, it really does add up,” Burmeister told WTAQ. “Mathematically, if you model things out, the repercussions of not masking by the vast majority of people can be really significant.”
However, he adds that it’s not likely, now, that the end of the mask mandate in Green Bay will have a particularly negative impact on COVID-19 spread.
“We’re in a position now where the case numbers are down, and we have the most vulnerable people in our community vaccinated,” Burmeister said.
It’s going to be a bit, though, Burmeister says, before they recommend finally putting the masks away.
“When we can give up on masks altogether is going to depend on two things,” Burmeister said. “The first is the percentage of our population that is vaccinated, and the second is as we learn more about the variants.”
The statewide mask mandate ended in March.
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