Most Americans Don’t Need to Wear a Mask Indoors Right Now, the CDC Says
As of today, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) no longer advises mask-wearing in public indoor spaces for most Americans.
Using a new method to determine community risk, more than half of U.S. counties—home to about 70% of the nation’s population—do not currently meet the threshold for recommended universal indoor masking, CDC officials said during a press briefing today.
“With widespread population immunity, the overall risk of severe disease is now, generally, lower,” CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said during the briefing. The CDC is now focused on preventing severe disease and health care strain, she said, instead of solely stopping new infections. The agency now determines an area’s risk based on its hospitalization rates, health care capacity, and the rate of new cases, instead of just case numbers and test positivity rates.
Universal indoor masking is now recommended only for counties that are deemed at high risk based on these metrics. Schools can follow the same guidance as the wider community, CDC officials said. (Of course, people may choose to wear masks if they wish, and the CDC advises everyone with COVID-19 symptoms to wear a mask.)
The advice does not apply to airplanes, trains, and transit centers, where masking is still required by a national mandate through at least March 18.
The change comes just weeks after Walensky said, on Feb. 9, that it was too soon to alter the agency's mask guidelines given high rates of infection and death, even though some states were ending mandates. Case counts have fallen dramatically since then, dropping from an average of more than 210,000 diagnoses per day to about 75,000 per day as of Feb. 23. Average deaths have also fallen from about 2,500 to roughly 1,500 per day since Feb. 9.
The CDC drew widespread criticism in May 2021, when it said vaccinated people in the U.S. no longer needed to wear masks indoors. Many experts called that move premature; indeed, it came shortly before the Delta variant caused cases and hospitalizations to surge over the summer. Omicron caused an even larger spike in cases a few months later.
The latest shift in guidance is also sure to be controversial, pitting those who feel it’s time to live with COVID-19 against those who argue it’s too soon to abandon pandemic precautions, given that tens of thousands of people are still infected by the virus every day and vaccines are not yet authorized for the nation’s youngest children. Which side is correct remains to be seen—but during the press briefing, Walensky acknowledged that guidance could change in the future.
“We want to give people a break from things like mask-wearing when our levels are low, and then have the ability to reach for them again should things get worse in the future,” she said.
TODAY'S CORONAVIRUS OUTLOOK
More than 431 million people around the world had been diagnosed with COVID-19 as of 12 a.m. E.T. today, and more than 5.9 million people have died. On Feb. 24, there were more than 1.6 million new cases and 10,458 new deaths confirmed globally.
Here's how the world as a whole is currently trending, in terms of cases:
And in terms of deaths:
Here's where daily cases have risen or fallen over the last 14 days, shown in confirmed cases per 100,000 residents:
And here's every country that has reported over 5.5 million cases:
The U.S. had recorded more than 78.7 million coronavirus cases as of 12 a.m. E.T. today. More than 944,000 people have died. On Feb. 24, there were 65,491 new cases and 2,939 new deaths confirmed in the U.S.
Here's how the country as a whole is currently trending in terms of cases:
And in terms of deaths:
Here's where daily cases have risen or fallen over the last 14 days, shown in confirmed cases per 100,000 residents:
All numbers unless otherwise specified are from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering, and are accurate as of Feb. 25, 12 a.m. E.T. To see larger, interactive versions of these maps and charts, click here.
WHAT ELSE YOU SHOULD KNOW
Researchers are monitoring BA.2, a variant descended from Omicron, as it continues to spread worldwide and make up a growing share of COVID-19 cases. BA.2, nicknamed “stealth Omicron,” has now been detected in at least 80 countries; it made up about 4% of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. during the week ending Feb. 19, the Associated Press reports. Scientists are still learning about the new variant, but early research suggests it may be even more contagious than Omicron. However, vaccines appear to work well against BA.2, and preliminary research suggests that people who recovered from Omicron are unlikely to be infected by the new variant.
A group of U.S. Air Force officers are suing the military branch for denying religious exemptions to its vaccine mandate, the Hillreports. In their complaint, they allege that the Air Force favors medical and administrative exemptions to the mandate—which required all active-duty personnel to be vaccinated by Nov. 2—over religious exemptions. The Air Force has so far approved 13 religious exemptions, according to the Hill.
Canadian regulators authorized the use of a COVID-19 vaccine made from plants. Instead of using mRNA or genetic material from the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the shot, made by Canadian company Medicago, uses particles grown on the leaves of Nicotiana benthamiana plants that mimic a key virus protein used in other vaccines. (The plant-based shot also contains an adjuvant, an ingredient that boosts immune response.) It was 71% effective at preventing COVID-19 in a pre-Omicron trial.
This week, John Nkengasong, head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, asked the rest of the world to temporarily stop sending donated COVID-19 vaccines, Politico reports. While African countries once struggled to secure enough doses, their bigger problem now is distributing shots and convincing people to get them, Nkengasong said. “It makes sense to say, ‘Look, let’s pause and avoid the risk of sending so much that it [expires],’” and instead focus on using the vaccines that are already available, he told Politico. Donations could resume in the third or fourth quarter of this year, he added.
Thanks for reading. We hope you find the Coronavirus Brief newsletter to be a helpful tool to navigate this very complex situation, and welcome feedback at coronavirus.brief@time.com. If you have specific questions you'd like us to answer, please send them to covidquestions@time.com.
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Today's newsletter was written by Jamie Ducharme and edited by Mandy Oaklander.
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