Octavia Feliciano
Staff Writer
Guidelines released by the CDC on Feb. 25 suggest around 70% of Americans can stop wearing masks, The New York Times reports. The CDC obtained this figure by evaluating the risk of Covid-19 in each U.S. county. In counties with a low or medium community risk, the CDC no longer lists mask-wearing as a recommended Covid-19 prevention behavior.
Gov. Phil Murphy’s decision to lift the mask mandate for public schools on March 7 and the College’s decision to lift the mask mandate on March 12 are in accordance with the latest recommendations from the CDC.
The CDC categorizes counties across all 50 states as low, medium or high risk, based on a complex array of factors.
“This new framework moves beyond just looking at cases and test positivity, to evaluate factors that reflect the severity of disease – including hospitalizations and hospital capacity – and helps to determine whether the level of Covid-19 and severe disease are low, medium or high in a community,” said CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky, speaking with CNN.
The CDC recommends that those living in counties categorized as low or medium risk should stay up-to-date with Covid-19 vaccinations and quarantine if they test positive, but it does not include mask wearing as a general recommendation.
One exception is for immunocompromised individuals. Even in areas of lower community risk, the CDC recommends that those who are more vulnerable to Covid-19 continue to wear masks. They also encourage those who share a household with an immunocompromised person to wear a mask in the presence of the vulnerable individual.
Not all reactions to the change in guidelines have been fully supportive.
Dr. Gerald Harmon, the President of the American Medical Association, is pleased that the new recommendations indicate vaccinations have been effective at protecting the nation’s population.
At the same time, Harmon recommends caution.
“We must grapple with the fact that millions of people in the U.S. are immunocompromised, more susceptible to severe Covid-19 outcomes, or still too young to be eligible for the vaccine,” said Harmon in a statement on the association’s site. “In light of those facts, I personally will continue to wear a mask in most indoor public settings, and I urge all Americans to consider doing the same.”
In their announcement last week, the CDC provides an interactive map in which you can check the “community level” of Covid-19 risk in any county in the U.S. Mercer County is currently classified as a low risk community.
“Are we still going to be vigilant? There’s no question about that,” said Dr. Chris Beyrer, professor of epidemiology at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, to reporters with USA Today. “But this does look like the beginning of a next phase and let’s hope it lasts.”
