Officials with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are reportedly prepared to backpedal on current guidance suggesting it’s safe for vaccinated Americans to ditch their face masks.
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According to a report from the Associated Press, the CDC is planning to recommend even vaccinated people wear masks indoors in areas of the country where COVID-19 cases are surging.
Some are already weighing in on the latest CDC reversal.
The CDC is expected to announce the new position — an about face from where the federal agency stood just two months ago — during a 3 p.m. briefing.
CNBC reported Tuesday the agency is “expected to recommend that fully vaccinated people begin wearing masks indoors in places with high COVID-19 transmission rates,” adding, “The updated guidance comes ahead of the fall, when the Delta variant is expected to cause another surge in new coronavirus cases and many large employers plan to bring workers back to the office.”
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A senior administration official told CNN the decision “was spurred by the more transmissible Delta variant.”
When asked Tuesday during the White House press briefing about the whiplash many Americans are feeling from the CDC, Biden administration spokesperson Jen Psaki said that the federal government’s “goal is to save their lives.”
In May, the CDC announced — without caveat — that fully vaccinated people could stop wearing masks altogether while outside as well as in the vast majority of indoor settings.
CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said at the time that anyone who si fully vaccinated “can participate in indoor and outdoor activist, larger or small, without wearing a mask or physical distancing.”
“If you are fully vaccinated,” she said, “you can start doing things that you had stopped doing because of the pandemic. We have longed for this moment, when we can get back to some sense of normalcy.”
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The anticipated update from the CDC follows comments from Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden. Fauci said Sunday Americans with underlying health issues “might likely” need to take COVID-19 vaccination booster shots in the future.
He also foreshadowed this report, telling CNN’s Jake Tapper that federal health officials have, in fact, been “actively” considering reinstating mask requirements.
As for the updated language itself, CNN’s Brian Stelter tweeted Tuesday he believes many on social media “are overstating” the expected guidance.