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UA health expert says masks continue to be an important mitigation method

The former director of the FDA, and current board member of Pfizer, suggests starting to lift pandemic-related restrictions — including mask wearing.

Dr. Shad Marvasti with the University of Arizona College of Medicine in Phoenix disagrees.

“We have been having huge basketball games, we’ve been having football games, we’ve been having concerts and everything without mask requirements, which is one of the reasons why that approach led to Arizona being second highest in deaths per capita nationally," Marvasti said.

Shad says not enough has been done to protect against current and possible future surprise variants.

Jill Ryan joined KJZZ in 2020 as a morning reporter, and she is currently a field correspondent and Morning Edition producer.