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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reversed course Tuesday on some masking guidelines, recommending that even vaccinated people return to wearing masks indoors in parts of the U.S. where the coronavirus is surging.
Citing new information about the ability of the delta variant to spread among vaccinated people, the CDC also recommended indoor masks for all teachers, staff, students and visitors to schools, regardless of vaccination status.
The new guidance follows recent decisions in Los Angeles and St. Louis to revert to indoor mask mandates amid a spike in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations that have been especially bad in the South. The country is averaging more than 57,000 cases a day and 24,000 COVID-19 hospitalizations.
Most new infections in the U.S. continue to be among unvaccinated people. But “breakthrough” infections, which generally cause milder illness, can occur in vaccinated people. When earlier strains of the virus predominated, infected vaccinated people were found to have low levels of virus and were deemed unlikely to spread the virus much, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said.
But with the delta variant, the level of virus in infected vaccinated people is “indistinguishable” from the level of virus in the noses and throats of unvaccinated people, Walensky said.
The data emerged over the last couple of days from 100 samples. It is unpublished, and the CDC has not released it. But “it is concerning enough that we feel like we have to act,” Walensky said.
Vaccinated people “have the potential to spread that virus to others,” she said.
For much of the pandemic, the CDC advised Americans to wear masks outdoors if they were within 6 feet of one another.
Then in April, as vaccination rates rose sharply, the agency eased its guidelines on the wearing of masks outdoors, saying that fully vaccinated Americans no longer needed to cover their faces unless they were in a big crowd of strangers. In May, the guidance was eased further for fully vaccinated people, allowing them to stop wearing masks outdoors in crowds and in most indoor settings.
The guidance still called for wearing masks in crowded indoor settings, like buses, planes, hospitals, prisons and homeless shelters, but it cleared the way for reopening workplaces and other venues.
Subsequent CDC guidance said fully vaccinated people no longer needed to wear masks at summer camps or at schools, either.
For months COVID cases, deaths and hospitalizations were falling steadily, but those trends began to change at the beginning of the summer as the delta variant, a mutated and more transmissible version of the virus, began to spread widely, especially in areas with lower vaccination rates.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the delta variant has changed the nation’s COVID-19 outlook since the the CDC relaxed masking recommendations.
“That is their job. Their job is to look at evolving information, evolving data, an evolving historic pandemic and provide guidance to the American public,” Psaki said.
“What has not changed,” she added, “is the fact that people who are vaccinated have a huge deal of protection from serious illness, from hospitalization and from death.”
Some public health experts said they thought the earlier CDC decision was based on good science, which indicated that the risk of vaccinated people spreading the virus was relatively low and that the risk of them catching the virus and becoming extremely ill was even lower.
But those experts were also critical, noting that there was no call for Americans to document their vaccination status, which created an honor system. Unvaccinated people who did not want to wear masks in the first place saw it as an opportunity to do what they wanted, they said.
“If all the unvaccinated people were responsible and wore mask indoors, we would not be seeing this surge,” said Dr. Ali Khan, a former CDC disease investigator who now is dean of the University of Nebraska’s College of Public Health.
Lawrence Gostin, a public health law professor at Georgetown University, drew a similar conclusion.
“It was completely foreseeable that when they (the CDC) made their announcement, masking would no longer be the norm, and that’s exactly what’s happened,” Gostin said.
The CDC may be seen as “flip-flopping,” he said, because there’s been no widely recognized change in the science, he said. Furthermore, it’s not likely to change the behavior of the people who most need to wear masks.
“I don’t think you can effectively walk that back,” he said.
Ken Thigpen, a retired respiratory therapist who now works for a medical device manufacturer, is fully vaccinated and stopped wearing his mask in public after the CDC changed its guidance in May. But he started to reconsider in the last week after his job took him to hospitals in Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama and Florida, where he witnessed medical centers getting inundated with COVID-19 patients.
“That delta variant is intense. It is so transmissible that we have to do something to tamp it down,” he said.
“I loved it when I could call the hospitals and they said, ‘We actually closed our COVID ward today or we are down to two COVID patients,'” he recalled. “And now we are opening the wards back up, and the numbers are going nuts.”
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Good luck CDC! What happened to following the science!
Just because you are ignorant of how science works, does not mean this is not science. As you get new data you change your theories and practices.
Who knows what to believe with all of Fauci’s substantiated extreme lies on so much and undue diabolical control as the chief minion of Globalist?
More science comes out daily dispelling most things he says!
Is the Delta Variant true? Is there really an uptick in COVID cases or is this another hurrah in a political power play and those certain few making more billions of dollars off governments around the world?
Are they still going to deny the people viable other treatments such as hydroxichloriquin in favor of their preferred vaccine sales that are almost injuring more or killing more than the virus itself?
With all the aforementioned mistrust that has been brewed so much deceit and the undeniable horrors before our eyes, they still want to force deadly at risk vaccines and take away our freedoms as they shoot from the hip aimlessly without much substantiated science as to start legislating control of our bodies and restricting access to life?
Is it a wonder the people in mass are rebelling???
The little voice we have in us is speaking louder than ever!
Darrell W, I hope you are as lucky as you are ignorant and you never actually get COVID. I would not wish it upon anybody.
I believe the US would have been better off with 600,000 more active citizens, so I am not sure how this has been a “power play” by anybody. It is true that when people are afraid of dying, they will get desperate, but we have vaccines that prevent almost all of the deaths, so I guess the majority of the desperate people now, are the unvaccinated.
As for your treatments, have you ever heard that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure? You have been offered 0.6 ml of prevention in the form of the Pfizer vaccine, and it sound like you are refusing it, holding out for questionable and non-effective “cures”.
I have yet to hear that 600,000 people have died from the vaccine like you have claimed. I think even the main stream media would have noticed something like that.
Dan M: let this unproven, experimental gene therapy drug, not a vaccine, play out and perhaps in a few years it may kill even more.
CDC is a joke
Excellent reply, Darrell! I couldn’t agree more!
“Backpedal” is an totally inappropriate term for this well advised change. Unfortunately it’s use here is indicative and supportive of the ignorance surrounding the science of this viral pandemic.
This virus is changing and our population is changing by the day – to not adjust recommendations would be inane and only lead to more unnecessary deaths.
The government has no business being involved in my health or anyone’s. Control, fear, and manipulation is really what it is all about. I am an adult and can decide for myself what is best for me. I’m sure millions of others can agree.
As you decide that you are fine with getting infected and infecting others, the government is going to decide that to protect the majority of the population, and the health care system, health measures will need to be put in place. It will include things like mask wearing and social distancing to prevent the spread of a deadly disease.
Just like wearing clothes in public or not defecting in the pool, there will be a few things you are forced to do because it is for the pubic good.
Too bad there are so many ignorant and misinformed people that don’t or can’t realize that getting vaccinated is not only good for themselves, but the people around them.
Well said Dan
just get your vaccine you idiots
y’all are playing yourselves & everybody else
What they don’t want to admit is the vaccines are not 100%.
Rebecca – No reputable source has ever said the vaccines are 100%, so I’m not sure who the “They” is that you are referring to.
Vaccines can only be 100% by way of stopping exponential spread – which can only happen if a high enough percentage of the population gets vaccinated. No single vaccine for anything is 100% by itself.
Thank you Robert. The same people who will not get the vaccine will also not wear masks. They are the root of the problem continuing exponentially!
China really outdid itself with this lab-made virus (thank you for funding that Fouchi). Not only did they release this onto the world, but it continues to mutate and terrorize as well as kill people, and vaccines cant be relied on.
You truly are ignorant. Wow! Blame game for you! Knock yourself out gasping for breath on a ventilator. Oh, and it’s FAUCI….not Fouchi! Wow!!
Rebecca, 99.5% of all Covid-19 deaths happening now are among the unvaccinated. So it’s ineffective 0.5% of the time. It’s probably one of the most effective vaccines ever created.
Good comment, Mike N. It is hard to understand how so many people in the current state of covid surge can still make a case for government overreach and have such a lack of understanding about how science evolves into reliable information.
Ever wonder why you don’t hear about smallpox, polio or mumps epidemics ? It is not because of any political party, conspiratory groups, scientists lying to the public, or anti-fax fear mongers. The older generations have the scars on their arm, the memories of all of their school mates in line for the Salk or Sabin polio prevention., etc. The answer is vaccines. They worked then (without 10 years of confirmatory testing) and they work now.
mRNA vaccines are novel and not FDA approved. why do they insist on this 2 shot vaccine when there is a much safer J&J one shot vaccine made the old fashioned way (same way as the polio, small pox, etc) – how do you explain that? follow the money. everyone who did the mRNA route is a guinea pig. they could have easily made them all the old fashioned way. so let’s talk about science and ignorance and natural selection now…
I bet you all would also think that injecting bleach into your veins is still a good idea based on the feeble minded ramblings of your glorious leader….you know…the one that was on television looking at the solar eclipse without safety glasses on…..
If you don’t want to get the vaccine….GREAT! When you are in the hospital with Covid, just remember, the last memory you will have before you die will be them shoving a tube down your throat. Darwinism at it’s finest. To save you the time looking up what that means on Google….it means when the strongest and smartest of a species evolves to the changes around it while those that are weaker and STUPID, die out.
Look out Robert just got triggered. so much for the compassionate left.
maybe you should watch something besides MSNBC
As opposed to watching Fox News and Tucker Carlson?? He’s not even a journalist…..he’s a commentator that says what ever he can to get the approval of the glorious leader!
Let me first say I am for as little government as possible. I want the lowest taxes possible. I believe in a capitalist economy and workforce. I detest unnecessary social programs that serve as a disincentive for people to get off their back side and find a job. With all that folks, please go get the vaccine. It is so obvious it has had a tremendous impact in bringing case rates down and reducing the symptoms of those who do contract the virus. Do the country, your community, your family and most importantly yourself a favor. I don’t think any of us want to go back to 2020 but that is where we are headed because of the pandemic that is about to take over the unvaccinated.
why? Why? WHYYYYYY do we need to go back to 202o Larry P. when the vaccine i available to all that want it? Now everyone has a way of protecting themselves to the extent that they want to, so again, WHY do we care if someone chooses to remain unvaccinated? If you are vaccinated, you are protected.
MG, because a lot of the population still cannot be vaccinated. There you go, nice short answer that you can hopefully comprehend.
wesley – as usual – what??
Too much kool-aid today?
+1 Larry.
If we leave it to Fauci, we will be forever in blue masks baby.
tell me again why we need vaccinated? thought I had heard so we could end mask use, social distancing, and hug my family again. CDC alert: we need to go back and do all the things that didn’t work the first time!
Correct Jeffery! The point of the article here is masking for the vaccinated. Lots of fun seeing the rhetoric but you are the first to bring the specific topic to question. WHY? Why preach the wellness of vaccinated and at the same time mandate masking for them? Interesting also is the lack of comment on the idea that wearing a mask protects others, not the mask wearer. So where did that discussion run off to? Thanks for your comment Jeffery!
We need more than 50% of people vaccinated to have any reasonable hope of ending the pandemic.
I’ve been to a number of businesses recently that had signs saying you should wear a mask if not vaccinated; if vaccinated, no need to wear a mask. Predictably, hardly anyone wears a mask now (those that cared enough to wear to mask are generally those who got vaccinated. Those that do not care, aren’t going to willingly wear a mask if they don’t have to).
Since there aren’t proof of vaccine checks at most businesses, there isn’t anything to enforce mask wearing at this time. With businesses and events opening to at or near full operation, you end up with a new surge.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. It’s time for vaccine passports as soon as the vaccines have full FDA approval. You should have to show it to go in a store, restaurant, airport, sporting event, concert, etc. Just do what France is doing. Those of us who are vaccinated are mostly the same ones who spent the last year following guidelines that allowed us to reopen. The anti-mask crowd was busy ruining everyone’s lives by purposely coughing on people, yelling at retail employees, screaming at flight attendants, etc. It’s time for these people to be forced to stay home if they don’t care enough about public health to get vaccinated. You don’t have to get the vaccine, but you aren’t welcome in public.
well Wesley thanks for at least acknowledging that the vaccines are not FDA approved. it will take years for that so…
and that is really working out well in France. 99.7% survival rate…
The NY Times reported that it looks like the Pfizer vaccine is on track for a September Full approval and the Moderna vaccine might be a month after that.
After serval hundred million doses, and so few adverse reactions, this is a matter of very carefully checking all of the data before approval.
Thank you Dan. I don’t normally respond to Dustin, so I appreciate you doing it for me. I wonder what their excuse will be once it is fully approved? Surely, they’ll come up with something else.
Dustin, the death rate from Covid is between 1.5-2%. That’s only slightly better odds than putting all your chips on a single number in Roulette.