As the more contagious Delta variant spreads rapidly, health experts are worried vaccines won't be as effective in preventing the spread of COVID-19. "It's quite reasonable, especially in indoor crowded spaces, even for vaccinated people to wear a mask because the risk of getting sick is higher now than it ever has been before for people who are fully vaccinated," said Shad Marvasti, MD, director of public health, prevention and health promotion at the College of Medicine – Phoenix.

There is widespread scientific consensus that fully vaccinated people have an excellent chance of being protected from severe illness or death from any coronavirus strain, including delta. Deepta Bhattacharya, PhD, an immunobiologist at the College of Medicine – Tucson, wrote in a tweet: “Please, no more cries of wolf on variants/vaccine efficacy. The vaccines still work fine in the real world."

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Shad Marvasti, MD, director of public health, prevention and health promotion at the College of Medicine – Phoenix, says it would be a good idea to bring back mask mandates. "We don’t want to wait until after the fact and get caught with this thing already ahead of us when we know that masks work," Marvasti said.

Health experts are concerned that Arizona’s recently approved budget, which bans public schools and universities from enforcing mask mandates and COVID-19 testing for unvaccinated students, is endangering public health across the state. “Banning schools from adopting a simple, cost-effective and scientifically proven safety measure like mask wearing while we are still in the midst of a pandemic makes absolutely no scientific or public health sense," said Elizabeth Jacobs, PhD, a professor and epidemiologist at the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health.

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