The president of Ghana upon the advice of medical professionals has announced that with effect from Monday 28^th March 2022, the wearing of face masks is no longer mandatory. Other modifications were made in terms of travel and other forms of social gathering.

Over 13.1 million Ghanaians are vaccinated and in areas with high number of people testing for COVID-19 over the 2 year period, many people are fully vaccinated and some have even taken booster shots.

Looking at trends in countries when they initially lifted bans, the next one month is quite critical. We will review our recommendations below in a month and advice on whether indoor masking is necessary. If we have few people testing positive even when masking is not mandatory, we are likely to advice by end April 2022 that it is no longer mandatory to wear masks at any time with few exceptions.

Based on evidence available we think this is a move in the right direction BUT we require that a few steps are taken as we cautiously return to life as we know.

1. All other protocols such as hand washing and/or sanitization should be strictly adhered to
2. Avoid crowded areas as much as possible
3. When outdoors masks are not mandatory
   1. However we recommend that when indoors for over 30 minutes wear your mask especially if you belong to any of these groups
      1. You are coughing or have a cold or feel unwell
      2. Have an underlying factor such as high blood pressure, diabetes, heart, lung or kidney disease, bronchial asthma, cancer or sickle cell disease
      3. Over the next month carry a mask so that when you are “uncertain” of people in an area you may find yourself e.g. people coughing but without a mask you may wear yours to protect yourself
4. The same applies to children in schools
   1. For those in boarding houses masking not necessary indoors and outdoors
      1. Except when one has a cold or is coughing then person should be masked
      2. Those with asthma, sickle cell disease or other significant medical conditions should mask to protect themselves
   2. For Day students who interact with many people outside of the school walls :
      1. Outdoor masking not needed
      2. Indoor masking should be considered especially in crowded classrooms at least over the next month

Remember to continue to stay healthy by getting adequate sleep, eating healthy, drinking lots of water, exercising and spending time outdoors among several others.

Dr. Kojo Cobba Essel, MBChB, MBA, FT

www.healthessentialsgh.com