The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reversed course Tuesday on some masking guidelines, recommending that even vaccinated people return to wearing masks indoors in parts of the U.S. where the coronavirus is surging.
Washington — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reversed course Tuesday on some masking guidelines, recommending that even vaccinated people return to wearing masks indoors in parts of the U.S. where the coronavirus is surging. Under the CDC’s new guidance, that would include 80 of North Carolina’s 100 counties. In the Triangle, only Durham, Orange, Granville, Vance, Warren and Nash counties would be exempt from the recommendation. Citing new information about the ability of the Delta variant to spread among vaccinated people, the CDC also recommended indoor masks for all teachers, staff, students and visitors to schools, regardless of vaccination status. North Carolina’s statewide mask mandate in schools expires Friday, and Gov. Roy Cooper said a week ago that it’s up to local school districts to enforce recommendations on who wears masks in class. “The governor and state health officials will review changes to CDC guidance, and he strongly encourages schools and businesses to enact important safety precautions and unvaccinated people to wear masks until they get their shots,” Cooper spokeswoman Mary Scott Winstead said in a statement. Cooper has scheduled a 2:30 p.m. Thursday briefing to provide updated guidance. The new CDC guidance follows recent decisions in Los Angeles and St. Louis to revert to indoor mask mandates amid a spike in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations that have been especially bad in the South. The country is averaging more than 57,000 cases a day and 24,000 COVID-19 hospitalizations. In North Carolina, an average of 1,754 people have been infected each day over the last week, up 79 percent from a week ago. Also,10.4 pecent of all virus tests statewide are coming back positive, the highest rate in almost six months. More than 1,000 people are hospitalized in North Carolna with COVID-19, the first time the state has topped 1,000 since early May. Most new infections in the U.S. continue to be among unvaccinated people. But “breakthrough” infections, which generally cause milder illness, can occur in vaccinated people. When earlier strains of the virus predominated, infected vaccinated people were found to have low levels of virus and were deemed unlikely to spread the virus much, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said. But with the Delta variant, the level of virus in infected vaccinated people is “indistinguishable” from the level of virus in the noses and throats of unvaccinated people, Walensky said. The data emerged over the last couple of days from 100 samples.
