Dr. Richard Feldman: Dropping mask mandate a political decision

Gov. Eric Holcomb is a Republican governor in a very conservative Republican state never known for its public health performance on most any parameter.

I have been critical of some aspects of his COVID-19 emergency orders including his non-punitive mask mandate. Nevertheless, considering his situation, I believe he has done a reasonable and thoughtful job of balancing the public’s health and supporting the economy over the past horrible year of illnesses, hospitalizations, and deaths.

With that said, Holcomb’s recent rescinding of the state’s mask mandate, capacity, and social distancing restrictions was disappointing. I anticipated that he would announce some loosening of restrictions but not an almost total withdrawal of state-level mitigation requirements.

His decision was premature and not based on data and science — supposedly the basis of the state’s way forward.

Simply, we are not ready.

This was a political decision. The governor is in a tough situation with continuing pressure from the rightwing of his party to eliminate mitigation requirements. Republican lawmakers threatened a resolution to halt his current executive orders and introduced legislation to limit the governor’s future emergency powers by convening the legislature. Not a good idea.

The General Assembly couldn’t even agree on a mask mandate for legislators this session.

Holcomb responded in an attempt to maintain control.

The timing is not good. There is a false sense of security from experiencing a dramatic drop in daily COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths, and a low positivity rate of 4.5%. But 1,000 cases daily are still too high…and higher than before the huge surge that peaked in December.

Case numbers and positivity rates here and nationally are rising again, ticking up after a plateau. And with many states totally reopening their economies, the more virulent United Kingdom variant circulating widely, crowded spring break gatherings, and locally with the NCAA tournament, we can only anticipate a resurgence of the virus.

When we relax mitigation efforts, 2020 taught us that the virus surges.

Indiana can be proud of its immunization program, one of the most efficient and effective in the country. But still, only 2.8 million doses have been administered, and only 20% of the adult population has been fully immunized.

We’re far from the 80% required for herd immunity. And unfortunately, vaccine refusal is rampant.

Further, we are anticipating the arrival of other more infectious and deadly variants. The South African and Brazilian variants have the enormous potential for drastic reductions in vaccine efficacy. Variants are born and fueled by viruses spreading and mutating.

The messages from the governor are confusing to the public: The responsible thing to do is to continue to wear a mask, social distance, sanitize, and avoid big crowds.

But the elimination of restrictions implies that the pandemic is all but over and it’s safe to re-engage normally. He is relying on the conservative concept of “personal responsibility” as an answer to a public health crisis.

Personal responsibility has never been an effective public health strategy. How many photos of mask-less crowds have we seen?

The governor has shifted the responsibility for the COVID-19 response to local governments and to businesses to maintain restrictions without the cover of statewide regulations.

Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett will continue with the present restrictions, but most localities will not impose any new regulations.

With vaccinations progressing, in just a few more months we could be in a very different safer place.

But now our state is open. Get ready for a setback.