What you need to know about the CDC’s new mask guidelines

[ad_1]

On Tuesday, July 27, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention He recommended that vaccinated individuals wear masks in public indoors in communities where Covid cases are increasing.

CDC, K–12, with new policy. recommends that children in classrooms go to school in person while continuing to wear masks inside.

Why is the CDC making this transition?

The announcement comes in the wake of increased infections with the delta variant, the highly contagious strain of covid that was first detected in India earlier this year. The new policy may seem like a backtrack, but Rochelle WalenskyThe CDC’s director explained that the agency’s decisions were not taken lightly.

“Our guidance and recommendations will follow the science,” Walensky said during a press briefing. “The Delta variant demonstrates a willingness to outsmart us every day and to be opportunistic in areas where we don’t have an empowered reaction to it.”

In May, the delta was responsible for only 2% of the cases listed in the US, but today 82% of the samples contain the more infectious variant. Johns Hopkins.

Will this change affect me?

Probably (if you live in the US). More than 63% of the US experience what the CDC calls “significant transmission speeds,” meaning the new policy will apply there. To find out if you live in an area where Covid is spreading, visit the CDCs. Covid Data Tracker, which tracks infections by county.

(If you haven’t been fully vaccinated, it may not be a big difference depending on where you live. TOight states including California, New York and Nevadarequired masking of people who weren’t already vaccinated.)

How does the delta variant spread?

The CDC believes unvaccinated individuals triggered this spread. Rarely, however, vaccinated people also get sick and may have the infection, although their cases are probably much less severe. At the beginning of the epidemic, one person with covid could infect an average of 2.5 people. But with the delta variant, one infection spawns an average of six more.

[ad_2]

Source link

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *