CDC mask guidelines

2022 - 2 - 25

CDC

Post cover — Image courtesy of "NewsNation Now"

Some welcome new CDC mask guidance, others wary (NewsNation Now)

Under new guidance, the CDC says people can stop wearing masks if they live in counties where the coronavirus poses a low or medium threat to hospitals ...

CDC Significantly Loosens Mask Guidelines (Forbes)

The CDC wants to “give people a break” from wearing masks when severe Covid-19 infections are low, Dr. Rochelle Walensky said.

Shortly afterward, the efficacy of masking was demonstrated aboard the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, where crew who wore masks during a Covid outbreak showed a 55.8% chance of being infected, compared to an 80% for crew not wearing masks. However, the public appears split as to whether this is a good move. An Axios/Ipsos poll published February 8 found 21% of respondents wanted the U.S. to “open up and get back to life as usual with no restrictions,” while 29% wanted to “move in that direction with some precautions,” 23% wanted to “mostly keep requirements in place” and 21% wanted to “increase mask mandates and vaccine requirements.” A study published this February by the CDC found that N95 and KN95 respirator masks reduced the risk of testing positive for Covid by 83%, compared to 66% for surgical masks and 56% for cloth masks. The CDC first recommended wearing masks as a measure against Covid in April 2020. The CDC will continue to recommend wearing masks indoors in public spaces, including in schools, in areas with high Covid levels, now defined as areas with high numbers of severe Covid cases and where healthcare systems are at high risk of being overwhelmed, Walensky said.

CDC says Americans can now go unmasked in many parts of the ... (NPR)

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Friday it is relaxing its mask guidance for communities where hospitals aren't under high strain.

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C.D.C. Guidelines Suggest 70 Percent of U.S. Could Stop Wearing ... (The New York Times)

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday offered a new strategy to help communities across the country live with the coronavirus and get ...

And some officials in the C.D.C. and the Department of Health and Human Services are nervous about the changing guidance, according to an administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity. “If people isolate for five days, or even worse, we just let people go, it’s possible that we have the potential to see cases rise,” Dr. Sikka said. “We want to give people a break from things like masking when our levels are low, and then have the ability to reach for them again should things get worse in the future,” she said. The Omicron surge made it clear that because so many Americans have some immunity to the virus through vaccinations or prior infection, counties may see high numbers of cases and yet comparatively few that involve serious illness. Using the new criteria, fewer than 30 percent of Americans are living in areas with a high level of risk, the agency said. Though a growing number of political leaders, public health experts and ordinary citizens now support the easing of restrictions, at least temporarily, others are still wary. The recommendations no longer rely only on the number of cases in a community to determine the need for restrictions such as mask wearing. “By the time hospitals are overwhelmed, it’s too late,” she said. The new guidelines are being released as the coronavirus is in retreat across the country. Others are poised to end indoor mask mandates in the coming weeks. Case numbers have dropped to levels not seen before the surge of the Omicron variant, and hospitalizations have been plummeting. Several experts said the new guidelines were appropriate for the country’s current situation.

COVID by County (COVID-19)

Find out what the COVID-19 Community Level is in your area so you can learn about what precautions you can take to protect yourself and others from ...

People may choose to mask at any time. Take precautions to protect yourself and others from COVID-19 based on the COVID-19 Community Level in your area. COVID-19 Community Levels are a new tool to help communities decide what prevention steps to take based on the latest data.

CDC debuts new mask guidelines (Becker's Hospital Review)

The CDC eased indoor mask guidance Feb. 25, now relying on how COVID-19 is affecting a community's healthcare system — rather than transmission rates alone ...

High: At this level, there is a high level of severe disease and high potential for a community's healthcare system to become strained. Medium: This means there are more people with severe disease, and communities are beginning to see an increase in how much COVID-19 is affecting their healthcare system. Since July 2021, the agency had previously recommended universal masking in all schools. For counties in this category, the CDC recommends getting vaccinated and boosted, along with testing when sick. The CDC recommends everyone in communities at this level wear a mask indoors and in schools, in addition to the precautions at the low and medium levels. The CDC's former guidance was based mainly on COVID-19 case counts and recommended people mask up indoors in communities with substantial or high transmission, a category about 98 percent of U.S. counties fell into as of Feb. 23, according to transmission data.