- In high-risk areas of the United States, vaccinated people must wear masks.
- Due to the Delta variant, the Covid-19 infection rate is climbing.
- Among the more than 3,200 counties in the country, 63% are experiencing large or high transmission.
The highest health authority said on Tuesday that people who were vaccinated against Covid-19 in high-risk areas of the United States should return to wearing masks indoors-a major reversal of guidelines and underscoring the country’s struggle to suppress the Delta variant.
US President Joe Biden stated that the announcement indicated that the United States needs to “do a better job” in vaccination, adding that it is now “under consideration” to provide vaccination authorization for more than 2 million federal workers in the country.
Rochelle Varensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, cites new data that shows that rare breakthrough cases involving the delta increase the risk of continued transmission.
She said: “In areas with high transmission and high transmission, the CDC recommends that fully vaccinated people wear masks in public indoor environments.”
Just last week, the CDC was defending its unexpected decision in May that in most cases, vaccinated people do not need to wear masks indoors.
Local transmission rate
In another setback, due to the local transmission rate in Washington, the White House also ordered all staff to wear masks again on Tuesday.
According to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 63% of the more than 3,200 counties across the country have large or high levels of transmission.
A large number is defined as 50 to 100 cases per 100,000 persons per day within 7 days, and a high definition is more than 100 cases per 100,000 persons per day within 7 days.
Biden said that he will develop new steps on Thursday to overcome the lag in vaccination following the strong start of the country’s plan.
In a separate speech to the US intelligence community, when asked about the possibility that US federal workers might need to be vaccinated, Biden replied: “Currently under consideration.”
On Monday, the Department of Veterans Affairs stated that it will require its approximately 115,000 frontline health workers to receive injections, becoming the first federal agency to develop such a requirement.
Varensky emphasized that so-called “breakthrough” cases among vaccinated people are still rare-vaccination can reduce the risk of symptomatic disease by seven times, and the risk of hospitalization and death by 20 times.
However, new CDC research shows that when vaccinated people are indeed infected, their viral load is similar to that of unvaccinated people.
She said: “This leads us to believe that breakthrough infections, although rare, may spread forward with the same ability as people who have not been vaccinated.”
trump card
She added that in order to stop the spread of Delta variants, the CDC will recommend that schools reopen in the fall to adopt general-purpose masks, including teachers, faculty, staff, students, and visitors, regardless of the vaccination status.
Former President Donald Trump, who has been widely accused of mishandling the virus during his tenure, lashed out at the latest proposal.
“We will not go back. We will not hide our children,” he said in a statement. “Brave Americans learned how to live safely and responsibly and fight back.”
Due to the Delta variant, the number of infections in the United States is now increasing, accounting for approximately 90% of cases.
The latest 7-day average daily number of cases exceeds 56,000, which is similar to the level in April.
In the United States, more than 610,000 people have died of Covid-19.
49% of the US population has been fully vaccinated, but the vaccination rate is heavily biased towards politically free areas of the country.
Varensky emphasized that she believes that wearing masks is a “temporary” measure, adding: “In high-spread areas, what we really need to do is to vaccinate more and more people.”
According to a paper recently published in the journal Virology, the amount of virus found in the first test of Delta variant patients is 1,000 times higher than that of patients in the first wave of viruses in 2020, greatly increasing their infections sex.
Last month, due to the Delta variant, Israel re-implemented the mask regulations only 10 days after canceling the mask regulations, and local jurisdictions in the United States, including Los Angeles County, also adopted similar measures.
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