Top El Paso infectious disease expert questions mask rule amid vaccination rate
EL PASO, Texas -- One of the top infectious disease experts in the state questioned why a mask mandate is still in place for El Paso when the community has more than 75% of its eligible population vaccinated against Covid-19.
In a tweet, Dr. Ogechika Alozie said, "Hey El Paso, you can't have it both ways. You can't crow about being vaccinated and yet have a performative indoor mask mandate that nobody follows."
El Paso City/County Health Authority Dr. Hector Ocaranza told ABC-7 on Wednesday that the reason the mask mandate is still in place is to protect El Paso's healthcare resources.
According to Ocaranza there are approximately 170,000 people in El Paso who are unvaccinated and 10 to 20% of them could need hospitalization.
While he said getting vaccinated is the best way to fight the virus, using a combination of efforts including wearing a mask is the best way to prevent getting Covid-19.
"When you have a community that has a lot of risk factors, when you have a large number of people that are still susceptible, we need to use a combination of tools that's going to make it successful," Ocaranza said.
As for when the mask mandate will be dropped, Ocaranza told ABC-7 that he's looking at the seven-day average of new positive cases and hospitalizations. He said when there is declining trend, he will remove the mask mandate.
