U.S. health officials are considering again recommending that those vaccinated against COVID-19 wear masks again, in the face of a surge in infections that is taking the country “in the wrong direction.”
The country’s top epidemiologist, Anthony Fauci, said on Sunday, three days after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said there was no change in its policy on wearing masks at the moment.
“That’s being actively considered,” Fauci said in an interview with CNN, when asked if the administration could again recommend that vaccinated people wear masks, especially indoors.
The possible change in federal guidelines would not imply a mandate at the national level, since those issued by the CDC have always been recommendations, although they influence the decisions of the authorities of each state and locality of the country.
Fauci thus confirmed reports from several media outlets that the United States is considering changing its recommendations on the use of masks, rumors that CDC Director Rochelle Walensky tried to downplay On Thursday by assuring that for the time being there were no changes in its policy.
The country’s top epidemiologist, who is also an adviser to U.S. President Joe Biden, said he is part of the deliberations on whether or not to change federal recommendations.
In mid-May, as the vaccination campaign progressed in the United States, the CDC changed its guidelines and recommended that those who had already received the full schedule could go without a mask most of the time, even indoors.
In late June, in the face of the expansion of the delta variant, the World Health Organization (WHO) suggested that vaccinated people should continue to wear masks, especially if they were in areas with a high incidence of infection, but the United States maintained its guidelines.
This week, the CDC acknowledged that the delta variant already accounts for at least 83% of sequenced covid-19 cases in the United States, something that in the last week has led to an increase in infections in 90% of the country’s jurisdictions (states, localities and territories).
In the last week, infections have risen by nearly 47% in the US and hospital admissions for the disease have increased by 32 percent, while vaccination remains virtually stagnant, with only 57% of those over 12 fully vaccinated, according to the CDC.
“We’re moving in the wrong direction,” Fauci lamented Sunday.
He added that it is “a problem” that “50% of the total population” of the country “is not vaccinated”, and insisted that the vast majority of cases and hospitalizations occur among those who are not immunized, so the government is “practically begging” them to get vaccinated.
That situation seems to have eroded the confidence of some Americans in Biden’s administration: in March, 72% of citizens approved of his handling of the pandemic, a percentage that has now dropped to 63%, according to a poll published sunday by ABC News.
In addition, 55% of Americans say they are pessimistic about the direction the country is heading, almost 20% more than they thought the same in May, according to the same poll.
