The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced guideline changes allowing most Americans to unmask indoors, which health experts say may be the first step in shifting the U.S. to an “endemic phase” of the pandemic.
The agency said in a news briefing Friday afternoon it will be using different metrics to determine whether to recommend face coverings.
Under the old guidelines, masks were recommended for people living in communities of substantial or high transmission, which applied to roughly 95% of U.S. counties.
Now, in addition to caseloads, the guidance also will consider hospitalizations, current beds occupied by COVID patients and hospital capacity. The new metrics would put more than half of U.S. counties – where more than 70% of Americans live – in areas of low or medium risk, according to the CDC data.
“We are in a stronger place today as a nation with more tools today to protect ourselves and our community from COVID-19 like vaccination, boosters, broader access to testing, availability of high quality masks, accessibility to new treatments, and improved ventilation,” CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said during Friday’s briefing.
Officials say the new guidelines won’t immediately impact federal mask mandates and Americans will still be required to wear face coverings on public transportation until a decision is made closer to March 18, when the mandate is set to expire.
However, the CDC says schools are included in the public settings where masking and testing may not be necessary if the COVID-19 risk is low based on the new metrics.
The CDC advises people who are at higher risk of severe disease from COVID-19 – or those who live with people who are at risk – to take extra precautions, regardless of their own community status.
Health experts say the move makes sense as the vast majority of vulnerable Americans are fully vaccinated and widespread transmission of the omicron variant has ultimately led to less hospitalizations and death.
The pace of new cases has fallen 36% from a week earlier, and the pace of reported deaths has dropped 22%, Johns Hopkins University data shows. Hospitals have 24% fewer COVID-19 patients than a week earlier, according to Health and Human Services data.
“We had a pretty good understanding of the correlation of cases and hospitalizations and ICU beds and loss of life,” said Dr. Chris Beyrer, professor of epidemiology at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. “With omicron, that calculation really changed because the virus is so much more transmissible but significantly milder.”
Case numbers and positive tests, alone, no longer capture an accurate picture of COVID-19 risk in the U.S. as many Americans rely on at-home rapid tests and results go unreported, said Jodie Guest, professor and vice chair of the department of epidemiology at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health.
