CDC Significantly Loosens Mask Guidelines

Topline

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will no longer recommend masking indoors, schools included—except in areas with high levels of severe Covid cases—in order to “give people a break from mask-wearing” in lower-risk areas, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky announced Friday.

Then Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden takes his mask off as he prepares to speak in … [+] Wilmington, Delaware on November 4, 2020.

Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Key Facts

The CDC has updated its framework for monitoring communities’ Covid levels, focusing less on overall case numbers and more on numbers of severe cases, in order to prevent hospitals from being overwhelmed, Walensky said.

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.

About 37.3% of U.S. counties currently have high Covid levels, 39.6% have medium levels and 23% have low levels, CDC officials said.

The CDC’s count of severe Covid cases will include patients hospitalized with Covid, but not necessarily because of Covid—in part because not all hospitals are readily able to differentiate between the two.

The shift was made in response to the omicron variant, which is more transmissible than previous variants but less likely to cause severe illness, the Associated Press reported.

Previously, CDC guidelines recommended masking for people over 2 who are not up to date on vaccinations or who are in areas with “substantial or high” Covid transmission.

Key Background

The CDC first recommended wearing masks as a measure against Covid in April 2020. 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. 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. However, many people choose cloth masks over respirator masks because cloth masks are more comfortable, a University of Virginia research team found.

Contra

The CDC still recommends masking for anyone who has Covid symptoms or who has tested positive for Covid, regardless of conditions in the wider community, CDC scientist Dr. Greta Massetti said.

Big Number

400 million. That’s how many N95 respirator masks the Biden Administration has pledged to distribute for free.

Tangent

The CDC’s decision to ease masking guidelines came weeks after California, New Jersey, Oregon and other states announced they would drop state mask mandates or school mask mandates. 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.”