Lately, I’ve noticed that a lot of health systems—including Johns Hopkins, the University of Pennsylvania, and all of the public health hospitals in New York City—are once again making masks mandatory at their facilities. The throwback makes sense, since hospitals are where people who are most vulnerable to COVID-19 complications are likely to be.

The change in hospital policies got me thinking: are more mandates to come? I spoke to a bunch of public health experts, and most agreed that it's unlikely. Why?  The public has a bad case of pandemic fatigue. Plus, thanks to a combination of vaccines and natural infections, most of us have more immunity to the virus than we did at the start of the pandemic.

For now, we’re fortunate that the Omicron variants don’t seem to cause more serious disease. But in order to be prepared if that changes, or if a new virus emerges, health experts say we need to take a harder look at how we can protect ourselves better. Masks are a start, but the biggest payoff would come if updated COVID-19 vaccines—which only 20% of people in the U.S. currently have—became easier and more affordable to get.

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