WATCH: MSNBC Doctor Says It’s Time To Start Wearing COVID Face Masks Again

A doctor and MSNBC contributor said on the network that Americans should start masking again.

"A mask can be your best friend. Keep it. Back in time, we had them in our pockets, in our coats, and our backpacks. Time to bring them out again," contributor and former Obama administration official Kavita Patel said on Tuesday. "Especially as the school season starts, we don't want to see kids missing school for things that we could have prevented."

The segment centered on an increase in COVID-19 cases in the country. More than 7,100 people with COVID were hospitalized during the week of July 15, which marked the highest percentage increase since December.

Patel admitted that this spike is not "anywhere near" levels in recent years.

"We are not seeing anywhere near the dramatic rises that we saw in previous summers or previous years, that’s good news," she said.

Patel added that people should be on "alert" especially in "crowded spaces."

The comment comes a little over a month after a poll showed for the first time that a majority of Democrats said they believe the COVID-19 pandemic is over.

June data from Gallup found 51 percent of Democrats think the pandemic has ended, an increase of 23 points since February. It's the first time since June 2021, when Gallup began asking, that a majority of Democrats said the pandemic is over. The numbers show 84 percent of Republicans and 65 percent of independents believe it's ended.

The survey also found that only 2 percent of U.S. adults are "very worried" about contracting the virus. Twenty-nine percent of Democrats are not worried at all about getting the virus, compared with 71 percent of Republicans.

A majority of Republicans first said they believe the pandemic is over in April 2022.

Published under: Coronavirus , COVID-19