WILL IT be a breath of fresh air? Or will it open the gates to pandemonium?

There is growing nervousness among medical professionals about the State's plans to relax the mask mandate on Sunday, a move which has been widely welcomed by the business community and the population.

The growing presence of BA.4 and BA.5 sub-variants in Latin America and the Caribbean has led officials such as Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) director Dr Carissa F Etienne to issue fresh warnings.

'The virus keeps evolving every time it is transmitted,' she said at a media conference on Wednesday. 'We must remain vigilant.'

At the Ministry of Health's covid19 media conference on Wednesday, Chief Medical Officer Dr Roshan Parasram confirmed the BA.5 variant was detected among 20 samples sent for genomic testing at UWI.

Given the relatively small proportion of cases that are tested, it is fair to assume the variant is more widespread than a few dozen cases.

While these new variants don't result in severe illness, they are more transmissible and therefore pose a threat to healthcare capacity.

'What we are mostly concerned with at this point in the pandemic is the impact on the hospitalisation and the impact on the number of people who have passed away due to the disease itself,' Dr Parasram said. 'There is always a sense of trepidation when we do a change.'

The State's plan to relax, not eliminate, the mandate comes almost exactly two years since authorities implemented it at the height of the pandemic. Since then, the country has moved from initial scepticism to a situation in which masking is now de rigueur.

It is accepted as a basic measure widely acknowledged to reduce transmission.

Yet there are still many who wear masks more as accessories, not properly covering their noses or mouths. A very small number has stridently refused to wear masks at all, believing them to be an unreasonable intrusion into their bodily sovereignty. Yet others have simpler reasons for blanking face coverings: they just don't like them.

For members of the business community, the removal of compulsory masking could not come sooner.

'This should have been done months ago,' said Jai Leladarsingh, co-ordinator of the Confederation of Regional Business Chambers, in an interview earlier this week.

Perhaps the delay was simply an acknowledgement that once the genie is let out of the bottle, it might be difficult, if not impossible, to put it back.

That's why the State is correct to maintain a partial mandate on some premises like hospitals.

With the arrival of variants, consideration should be given to widening areas where masks will still be mandatory, possibly extending them to public transport or to large indoor gatherings.

The post Unmasking nervousness appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.