The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently relaxed its nationwide mask mandate, allowing Americans to stop wearing masks as long as COVID-19 hospitalizations in their communities remain low. The new guidance is in part of the nation's return to normalcy as effective vaccines help ease universal restrictions.
With the new guidance, the federal agency is no longer relying only on the number of new infections in a community to determine the need for social restrictions in public spaces. Rather, the CDC will now advise Americans to wear masks indoors when there's enough viral circulation in there area that could overwhelm local hospitals.
Now, counties will need to consider three key public health measures to assess the risk of the virus and the need for invention: new COVID-related hospital admissions over the previous week, the percentage of hospital beds occupied by COVID patients, and new COVID cases per 100,000 people over the previous week.
Under a color-coded system, people who live in green counties with low levels of COVID transmission will not need to wear masks indoors--this is the case for about 70% of Americans currently. People at higher risk in yellow-coded counties where there's medium levels of COVID transmission should consult their doctor about wearing masks, according to CDC. Finally, Americans who live in red-coded countries with high levels of COVID transmission should wear masks regardless of their vaccine status.
"With widespread population immunity, the overall risk of severe disease is now generally lower," said Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the CDC, to reporters during a call on Friday, quoted by CNBC. "This updated approach focuses on directing our prevention efforts towards protecting people of high risk for severe illness and preventing hospitals and health-care systems from being overwhelmed."
Under the guidance, masks won't be recommended in counties were average new COVID cases fall below 200 per 100,000 residents, there are fewer than 10 COVID hospital admissions per 100,000 people over the past week and COVID patients are taking up less than 10% of available hospital beds, based on a seven-day average. If cases exceed 200 per 100,000 residents, masks will be recommended indoors if new weekly hospital admissions exceed 10 per 100,000 people and patients are taking up 10% or more of hospital beds, based on a seven-day average.
The agency had recommended universal masking in areas of high community transmission since July, when the Delta variant was the dominant strain across the nation. The new guidance comes as new COVID cases and hospitalizations have dropped according the country, recovering from the Omicron surge seen earlier this year.