Most people in the United States live in areas where healthy people are not required to wear masks indoors, according to the new US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance – which previously recommended COVID-19 metrics, A massive change from that.
New CDC metrics indicate that about 28% of people in the United States live in a county where they are required to wear masks indoors. Previously, the CDC pointed to the level of coronavirus transmission within communities as a key metric for restrictions and recommended that people in areas with high or substantial levels of transmission - about 99% of the population - wear masks indoors. Needed.
Now, the CDC's "Covid-19 community level" metrics are based on three pieces of data in a community: new COVID-19 hospitalizations, hospital capacity, and new COVID-19 cases. The CDC website includes a list of US counties and their current COVID-19 levels.
Under the updated guidance, more than 70% of the US population is at a low or moderate COVID-19 community level. For those areas, there is no recommendation for indoor masking unless you are at potential "increased risk" for COVID-19 and if so, the CDC recommends talking to your health care provider about wearing a mask. recommends.
"We are in a better position today than we were six months ago, six weeks ago, six days ago," US Secretary of Health and Human Services Javier Becerra said in a statement to CNN. "Now it's time to focus on the seriousness, not just the cases of COVID. Because of all the hard work and the many tools we've developed to combat COVID, we can simplify the guidance on the use of masks." - Not everyone but the place needs to wear a mask."
At all levels, the CDC advises people to get vaccinated and promoted, and get tested if they have symptoms.
In areas with "high" levels, the CDC also recommends wearing masks in public indoor settings, including schools. In areas with "moderate" levels, the CDC recommends talking to your doctor about wearing a mask if you are at higher risk for COVID-19. In areas with a "low" COVID-19 community level, there is no recommendation to wear a mask.
The CDC notes that anyone who wants to wear a mask should continue to do so.
The updated CDC recommendations reflect "a new approach" to monitoring COVID-19 in communities, American Medical Association President Dr. Gerald Harmon said in a statement Friday.
“But even as some jurisdictions lift masking requirements, we must contend with the fact that millions of people in the US are immunized, susceptible to serious COVID consequences, or are still exposed to vaccines. In light of those facts, I personally would continue to wear a mask in most indoor public settings, and I urge all Americans to consider doing so, especially at pharmacies, grocery We should go to all places, regardless of vaccination status or risk factors, regularly — in stores, on public transportation," Harmon said.
“While masks may no longer be required indoors in many parts of the US, we know that wearing a well-fitted mask is an effective way to protect ourselves and our communities, including the most vulnerable, from COVID-19. - especially in indoor settings. When physical distancing is not possible."
community covid-19 level
Counties with less than 200 new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people in the past week are considered to have a "low" COVID-19 community level if they have fewer than 10 new COVID-19 hospital admissions per 100,000, or more than 10% There are fewer staff, on average, hospital beds were occupied by Covid-19 patients in the past week.
Levels are "moderate" if counties have 10 to about 20 new COVID-19 hospital admissions per 100,000 or 10% and 14.9% of staffed hospital beds occupied by COVID-19 patients on average in the past week.
Levels are considered "high" if counties have 20 or more new COVID-19 hospital admissions per 100,000 or at least 15% of staffed hospital beds occupied by an average of COVID-19 patients in the past week.
Counties with 200 or more new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people in the past week are not considered to have "low" levels of Covid-19. They are considered "moderate" if they have fewer than 10 new Covid-19 hospital admissions per 100,000 or less than 10% of staffed hospital beds per 100,000 occupied by an average of COVID-19 patients in the past week. They are considered "high" if they have 10 or more new COVID-19 hospital admissions per 100,000 or at least 10% of staffed hospital beds occupied by an average of COVID-19 patients in the past week.
“This new framework goes beyond simply looking at cases and testing positivity, to evaluating factors that reflect disease severity – including hospitalization and hospital capacity – and helping determine whether whether the level of COVID-19 and severe disease is low, moderate or high in a community," CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Valensky told reporters during a telebriefing call on Friday.
“The COVID-19 community level that we are releasing today will inform CDC recommendations on prevention measures, such as masking, and CDC recommendations for layered prevention measures will depend on the Covid-19 level in the community,” Valensky said. . "This updated approach is focused on directing our prevention efforts to protect those at high risk for serious disease and to prevent hospitals and health care systems from being overwhelmed."
The update to CDC guidance comes at a time when daily COVID-19 cases in the United States have fallen by a tenth of their peak last month, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. The 90% drop - from an average of more than 802,000 cases per day on January 15 to less than 75,000 currently - occurred over the course of about six weeks.
In recent weeks, it seems that some states have shifted the focus from community transmission to hospitalization. Several states plan to lift indoor or school mask mandates based on their own metrics: a drop in hospitalization rates and a larger proportion of fully vaccinated residents than the national average.
The CDC's updated COVID-19 community metrics indicate a turning point in the pandemic, Lori Tremmel Freeman, chief executive officer of the National Association of County and City Health Officers, told CNN on Friday.
"I think this is one of the long-awaited moments of the pandemic, to hear about such a significant change in how we look at data to identify appropriate mitigation strategies," Freeman said. .
"A critical moment during the pandemic in the sense that we are now able to overestimate these community burden metrics, which allow us to look at these mitigation strategies differently than they probably were before," Freeman said. , "I think we really have to look at hospitalization data and identify ways to improve the collection of data that allows us to account for individuals who come to the hospital with covid versus with covid." Huh."