US health agency loosens coronavirus mask guidelines
- Most healthy Americans, including schoolchildren, will no longer be advised to wear face coverings in indoor public spaces
- The United States is coming out of its latest Covid-19 wave, driven by the Omicron variant
The United States top health agency on Friday drastically revised its guidelines for masking to stop Covid-19 transmission, a decision that means most Americans will not be advised to wear them in indoor public spaces, including schoolchildren.
“We’re in a stronger place today as a nation with more tools to protect ourselves and our communities from Covid-19,” said Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in a call with reporters.
The changes involve the metrics used to determine whether people should mask up.
Under previous guidance, this was pegged to case rates – with 95 per cent of the country considered areas of high or substantial transmission, and thus covered by mask advisories.
The new metrics use caseloads but also include Covid-19 hospitalisations and local hospital capacity, to create a new measure known as “Covid-19 community level”.
Residents can look up on the CDC website whether their area is green, yellow or orange on a national map.