A young child wearing a mask is held by his mother. | Photo by Taylor Brandon on Unsplash
A young child wearing a mask is held by his mother. | Photo by Taylor Brandon on Unsplash
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) latest guidelines, most healthy Americans are safe to forego wearing masks.
The new guidelines change how the risk of COVID-19 is assessed, according to a Fox 5 Atlanta report. Previously, the CDC's risk maps were created using positive test results and the rate of new cases. Now, risk is assessed primarily by hospital admissions.
The new risk-assessment places 73% of Americans in areas where the threat of hospitalization from Coronavirus exposure or infection is medium or low, according to the CDC.
The CDC says healthy individuals in these areas (63% of U.S. counties) don't need to wear masks, Fox 5 reported. However, individuals in high-risk areas are encouraged to wear masks.
"There will be more waves of COVID,” Andrew Noymer, a public health professor at the University of California, Irvine, told Fox 5. “I think it makes sense to give people a break from masking. If we have continual masking orders, they might become a total joke by the time we really need them again."
The CDC's guidelines are not binding, meaning that local municipalities are free to adhere to or ignore the CDC as they choose, according to Fox 5. This has been evident as many governing bodies chose to lift mask mandates ahead of the update due to a decline in COVID-19 cases.
Dr. Rochelle Walensky, CDC director, said America is ready for future COVID surges.
"If or when new variants emerge or the virus surges, we have more ways to protect ourselves and our communities than ever before," she said in the Fox 5 report.
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