Topline
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is planning to update its indoor mask-wearing guidelines as early as next week, NBC reported Tuesday, possibly easing its recommendations as many states loosen their mask mandates and Covid-19 case counts decline nationwide.
Volunteers of the Italian Red Cross prepare protective masks which will be distribute for free to … [+]
Key Facts
The CDC may recommend masks on a local level, based on a given community’s level of hospitalizations and severe Covid-19, two unnamed sources told NBC.
The CDC currently recommends people who are vaccinated against the coronavirus wear masks in public indoor spaces in communities with “substantial or high transmission” of Covid-19, which still applies to the vast majority of the country despite a recent decline in positivity rates.
The White House has been eagerly anticipating an update to the CDC’s nonbinding mask-wearing advice, though it doesn’t want to give the impression it is pressuring the CDC to change its guidelines, NBC reported.
The updated recommendation may come as a formality, given that most states have already lifted their indoor mask mandates following the recent dip in case rates.
The CDC told Forbes it cannot confirm the story, and that “there is no updated guidance at this time.”
The White House did not immediately respond to Forbes’ request for comment on the report, and declined to comment to NBC.
Key Background
Last week, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky reiterated the agency’s recommendation for Americans to continue wearing masks indoors and in schools despite declining case rates. The agency’s recommendations have fallen on deaf ears among some state leaders, as many Democrat-led states like California, New York and New Jersey began lifting or loosening their mask mandates for schools or businesses last week. President Joe Biden told NBC last week these changes were “probably premature,” though he noted that many of these rollbacks will not take effect immediately.
What We Don’t Know
Some local leaders have suggested the coronavirus could become “endemic” when announcing shifts in coronavirus policies, but neither the CDC nor the World Health Organization has stated the virus has entered this stage. Dr. Aris Katzourakis, an evolutionary virologist at the University of Oxford, told Forbes Monday that even when Covid-19 becomes an endemic disease, it could still potentially seed new outbreaks and future pandemics, adding that endemicity does not equate to an endpoint.
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Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/masonbissada/2022/02/15/cdc-reportedly-plans-to-ease-masking-guidelines-as-states-lift-mandates/