|
 The new masking guidelines shift from a focus on the rate of
COVID-19 transmission to monitoring local hospitalizations, hospital
capacity and infection rates.
Under the prior guidelines, 95% of U.S. counties were considered to
be experiencing high transmission, leaving just 5% of U.S. counties
meeting the agency's criteria for dropping indoor mask requirements.
"We're in a stronger place today as a nation with more tools to
protect ourselves and our community from COVID-19," CDC Director
Rochelle Walensky said during a media briefing on Friday.
She cited the availability of vaccines and boosters, broader access
to testing, the availability of high quality masks and the
accessibility to new treatments and improved ventilation.
"With widespread population immunity, the overall risk of severe
disease is now generally lower," Walensky said.
The moves come as the wave of coronavirus infections caused by the
easily spread Omicron variant subsides substantially in the United
States and states such as New Jersey have announced plans to lift
indoor mask mandates for schools and other public places in the
coming days.
The new policy is broken down into three categories - low, medium
and high risk - based on hospital capacity and cases.
It advises people in medium-risk communities who are at increased
risk of complications from the disease, such as those with
compromised immune systems, to ask their doctors if they should be
wearing a mask.
With the pandemic now in its third year, many Americans have tired
of wearing masks. In addition, studies have shown that for
vaccinated people, infections from the Omicron variant were less
severe and less likely to cause hospitalization and death than
previous versions of the coronavirus.
Travelers will still need to wear masks on airplanes, trains and
buses and at airports and train stations. Those requirements expire
on March 18, and the CDC will revisit them in the coming weeks,
Walensky said.
[to top of second column] |
 The new guidelines apply
regardless of vaccination status.
Dr. Amesh Adalja, in infectious disease expert
at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security,
said the changes made sense given transmission
rates in the United States are high, but
hospitalization rates remained low.
"Focusing on hospital capacity is a much better
metric and has always been the overriding
concern," he said in an email.
The CDC said universal school masking would now
be advised only in communities with a "high"
level of COVID-19. The earlier recommendation
advised masking in schools no matter the level
of COVID transmission.
"We need to be flexible and to be able to say we
need to relax our layers of preventive measures
when things are looking up," Walensky said. "And
then we need to be able to dial them up again,
should we have a new variant, during the surge."
The CDC has come under fire for changes in its
stance on masking. Last spring, Walensky told
vaccinated Americans it was safe to take off
their masks indoors in low transmission areas,
but reversed course a few months later when it
became clear that fully vaccinated people could
transmit the virus.
In an interview with Reuters earlier this month,
Walensky said "now is not the time" to remove
masks in schools after announcements by
officials in New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware,
California and Oregon that they planed to lift
indoor mask mandates for schools and other
indoor spaces.
(Reporting by Julie Steenhuysen in Chicago;
additional reporting by Michael Erman in New
Jersey and Leroy Leo and Dania Nadeem in
Bengaluru; Editing by Caroline Humer and Bill
Berkrot)
[© 2022 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content. |
