Pima County Health Director Concerned By CDC's Greenlight For Unmasking

Published: Monday, May 17, 2021 - 11:09am
Updated: Tuesday, May 18, 2021 - 7:01am
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Pima County Health Department
Theresa Cullen

The Arizona Department of Health Services added 468 new cases of COVID-19 to the dashboard May 17. And, as is typical for Monday, no additional deaths were added. Hospitalizations have remained steady with Intensive Care Unit (ICU) use at 84% overall.

About 25,000 more vaccinations were given around the state on May 16 with the total number of doses administered in Arizona over 5.5 million. About 44% of the state’s population has had at least one vaccine shot; roughly one-third are now fully vaccinated.

There’s been a lot of confusion about when — and where — to wear masks since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s announcement late last week that vaccinated people can take off their masks in most places.

It came as a surprise to many of us who haven’t shown the bottom half of our faces in public almost at all for the last year. And it came as a surprise to Dr. Theresa Cullen, director of public health in Pima County, too.

The Show spoke with her about her reaction to this news.

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