CDC decision on updated mask guidance is imminent
Top federal health officials have debated whether to issue new guidance on masks and are close to announcing their decision as the highly contagious delta variant fuels new outbreaks in the United States.
Top officials huddled Sunday night to go over the new data and evidence regarding the transmissibility of the variant and breakthrough cases, according to a person familiar with the talks. An announcement could come as soon as Tuesday, although one person cautioned it may not happen later this week.
White House officials have repeatedly said it would be up to the CDC whether to change official guidance and that they would follow the lead of health and medical experts. The renewed administration discussions about revisiting mask recommendations revolve around what messages on masking the White House should offer, and what guidance the CDC should issue, sources familiar with the matter have told CNN.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Joe Biden’s chief COVID-19 medical adviser and the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Sunday that revising mask guidance for vaccinated Americans was under "active consideration" and that he was part of the discussion. Fauci also said the U.S. was "going in the wrong direction" as the number of COVID-19 cases continues to rise, particularly among unvaccinated Americans.
https://www.post-gazette.com/news/health/2021/07/27/cdc-mask-update-guidelines-outside-indoors-covid-pandemic-vaccines-unvaccinated-fauci-biden/stories/202107270103
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..."Numbers have been showing a favorable trend, largely due to vaccination. Should this trend hold steady over the next 6 weeks, and vaccination rates continue to go up, easing of masking requirements/recommendation may be possible."
Instead, they went from zero to 60, so to speak, overnight, and with the typical American inability to delay gratification, a whole bunch of folks basically said, "Yay- it's all over!" and threw all caution to the wind.
And who ever could have seen that coming the last umpteen times they did it?
I remember how infuriating it was back in Jan/Feb 2020, before many even knew there was a pandemic, how they were recommending people not wear masks.(I understand frontline workers needed them), but this caused many to actually believe masks wouldn't make a difference. I watched almost every other country on the map begin to put mask mandates in place. I even had a few people on here argue with me about the masks. It was extremely frustrating.
