The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued new guidelines Tuesday that recommend indoor-mask mandates even for fully vaccinated people in areas experiencing spikes in COVID-19 cases.
The agency said it also is now urging everyone in K-12 schools to wear a mask when they return to class, regardless of vaccination status.
“In areas with substantial and high transmission, CDC recommends fully vaccinated people wear masks in public, indoor settings to help prevent the spread of the Delta variants and protect others,” agency Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said at a press briefing.
“Children should return to full time in-person learning in the fall with proper prevention strategies,” Walensky added.
The new recommendations mark a change of course for the agency after it gave the green light in May for vaccinated people to ditch their masks in most settings.
It comes amid the spread of the highly contagious Delta coronavirus variant, which has driven surges of the virus across the country and now comprises around 83 percent of cases nationwide, according to the CDC.
“Information on the Delta variant from several states and other countries indicates that in rare occasions, some vaccinated people infected with a Delta variant… may be contagious and spread the virus to others,” Walensky said.
Walensky said that while vaccines are highly effective against serious illness, including versus the Delta variant, the new guidance helps protect more vulnerable individuals and children who are too young to get immunized.
“We thought it was important for people to understand that they could pass the disease onto someone else, and that is important in the case for example of vaccinated, individuals who might be going to visit an immunocompromised family member,” Walensky said.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday that the CDC’s new guidance is in response to “evolving information” about the pandemic.
“The reality is, we’re dealing with a much different strain of this virus than we were even earlier in the spring back in May when the masking guidance was done,” Psaki said at her daily press briefing.
“Their job [at the CDC] is to look at evolving information, evolving data, an evolving historic pandemic and provide guidance to the American public.”
President Biden called the new policy “another step on our journey to defeating this virus.
“By following the science, and by doing our part by getting vaccinated, America can beat COVID,” he said in a statement. “In the meantime, more vaccinations and mask wearing in the areas most impacted by the Delta variant will enable us to avoid the kind of lockdowns, shutdowns, school closures, and disruptions we faced in 2020.”
The CDC’s guidance is only a recommendation, leaving the final call up to state and local officials.
Several cities and towns, including Los Angeles, St. Louis and Savannah, Ga., have already reinstated masking rules.
Mayor Bill de Blasio said Tuesday that the Big Apple doesn’t have plans yet to implement new mask mandates — but will review the CDC’s guidance.
“Whatever happens with masks, I want to be as clear as I can be, the No. 1 tool, the No. 1 weapon, the No. 1 savior is vaccination,” de Blasio said at a press briefing Tuesday.
“So, we can talk about masks and figure out what makes sense to make – to do about masks. But the thing that will save us is vaccination,” said the mayor — while hinting that mandatory jabs may be coming for Big Apple workers.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a statement, “We are reviewing the CDC’s new recommendations closely in consultation with federal and state health experts.”
The seven-day average of new COVID cases in the US jumped 53 percent from the previous week, the CDC said Thursday.
But health officials have stressed that cases are being driven by unvaccinated Americans.
Currently, people who are not vaccinated account for around 99.5 percent of COVID-19 deaths and 97 percent of hospitalizations, officials said.
With Post wires