CDC issues new guidance on mask use

Most of the country is in categories where face mask use isn't recommended.

Read the whole story

 

[SixDegrees]

Good to hear that things are improving.

I'm sticking with a mask, social distancing, and wfh nonetheless. None of it is particularly bothersome, and all do some good.

 

[bilditup1]

I don’t know what to make of these revisions, but regardless, it is rather strange to me that policies generally don’t work on some kind of automatic snapback basis based on real-world conditions. Does it work that way anywhere in the country? I guess the lack of regular and widespread testing will hamper something like that, but it seems like none of the state regulators have been thinking about it along such lines to begin with, and just respond to public pressure piecemeal, muddling through...

 

[Dogs in a Pile]

Woo-hoo. My county is finally "low". But I still double mask even though the state receded the statewide mask order last week.

 

[faustshausuk]

Thanks to a combination of social distance/remote work, hand washing, and mask wearing. I've been able to avoid more than just COVID. I'm going to continue these for the foreseeable future.

 

[ExPatCA]

of course I live in an Orange County.

Meanwhile the environment I work in has vaxxed and boosted requirements to even gain entry. Curious to see what they do.

As a fully vaxxed, boosted and had Omicron person I am so done with this.

 

[charliebird]

I'm not a word smith but isn't saying 'face mask use isn't recommended' imply you shouldn't be wearing a mask?

 

[GFKBill]

It would have been nice to think that one of the positives to come out of COVID was a more Asia-esque appreciation for the benefits of wearing a mask in public when you're not feeling well, and not somehow get twisted into a political tool.

But I'm a hopeless optimist, and used to disappointment.

 

[Longmile149]

Are you having trouble meeting your KPIs?
Ask your doctor if changing the metrics is right for you!


…I know there are good reasons for a shift in focus, but god damn it’s hard to feel good about it.

 

[hasib]

I don’t know what to make of these revisions, but regardless, it is rather strange to me that policies generally don’t work on some kind of automatic snapback basis based on real-world conditions. Does it work that way anywhere in the country? I guess the lack of regular and widespread testing will hamper something like that, but it seems like none of the state regulators have been thinking about it along such lines to begin with, and just respond to public pressure piecemeal, muddling through...

That’s our clue that there is no intention of reimplementing these policies or any plan to make one.

 

[SraCet]

I'm not a word smith but isn't saying 'face mask use isn't recommended' imply you shouldn't be wearing a mask?

Face mask use isn't recommended.

Not wearing a face mask isn't recommended either.

There's simply a lack of recommendation.

 

[SraCet]

I don’t know what to make of these revisions, but regardless, it is rather strange to me that policies generally don’t work on some kind of automatic snapback basis based on real-world conditions. ...

"We recognize that we need to be flexible," [Walensky] said. "We need to be able to dial [restrictions] back up again should we have a new variant or new surge."

What makes you think this wouldn't happen?

It has happened where I live several times in the past 2 years.

 

[AmanoJyaku]

Good to hear that things are improving.

I'm sticking with a mask, social distancing, and wfh nonetheless. None of it is particularly bothersome, and all do some good.

The 7-day average deaths are only decreasing slightly. And this continues to be a pandemic of the unvaccinated.

 

[Apparition]

Here is an interesting memo that was released yesterday by Impact Research, a Democratic Party polling firm:

https://twitter.com/hamill_law/status/1 ... 4790872065

“ Twice as many voters are now more concerned about COVID’s effect on the economy (49%) than about someone in their family or someone they know becoming infected with the coronavirus (24%)”

“Six in ten Americans describe themselves as ‘worn out’ by the pandemic. The more we talk about the threat of COVID and onerously restrict people’s lives because of it, the more we turn them against us and show them we’re out of touch with their daily realities.”

“Science” indeed.

 

[original_mds]

I'm curious how the CDC is determining the prevalence levels given the surge in availability of at-home tests. My guess is that a lot of people are not following up on reporting positive or negative, especially since omicron seems to be less severe than the common cold (to a lot of people who are getting over it in 4 days with mild symptoms vs the typical 7-9 day cold).

 

[faustshausuk]

I'm not a word smith but isn't saying 'face mask use isn't recommended' imply you shouldn't be wearing a mask?

Face mask use isn't recommended.

Not wearing a face mask isn't recommended either.

There's simply a lack of recommendation.

Schrödinger's face mask: it simultaneously is and is not recommended.

 

[Edgar Allan Esquire]

I'm not a word smith but isn't saying 'face mask use isn't recommended' imply you shouldn't be wearing a mask?

Face mask use isn't recommended.

Not wearing a face mask isn't recommended either.

There's simply a lack of recommendation.

That's certainly the literal meaning and what they do mean. Unfortunately, I'd guess the most common encounter of such statements is on product warning labels where "Not recommended for use..." generally means that the use case is bad. I'm certain there's a nonzero amount of people reading the statement and thinking that means "masks are bad."

 

[SraCet]

I'm curious how the CDC is determining the prevalence levels given the surge in availability of at-home tests. My guess is that a lot of people are not following up on reporting positive or negative, especially since omicron seems to be less severe than the common cold (to a lot of people who are getting over it in 4 days with mild symptoms vs the typical 7-9 day cold).

Kind of the whole point of this article is that they're no longer attempting to determine prevalence levels.

 

[SixDegrees]

Good to hear that things are improving.

I'm sticking with a mask, social distancing, and wfh nonetheless. None of it is particularly bothersome, and all do some good.

The 7-day average deaths are only decreasing slightly. And this continues to be a pandemic of the unvaccinated.

Well, deaths tend to lag cases by two or three weeks. And I'm kind of low on sympathy for anyone who isn't vaccinated by now, apart from the very rare exceptions with some medical reason for it. If people want to make themselves sick and die for their political misconceptions, I'm tired of trying to change their minds.

 

[tonyc2967]

"In a widely expected move, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced new guidelines"

Could you maybe include a link to the CDC page with new announcement/guidelines/map from the article picture?

 

[AusPeter]

I'm happy that in NM (where I am) the rolling 7 day average of cases has now fallen to where it was at the beginning of August 2021 (about 570 new cases per week), as opposed to the omicron peak of 7600 cases per week at this same time in January. And seems to be still trending down.

We dropped mask mandates last week, but we're still in this weird phase where people don't know what they are meant to be doing. Eg I was in my local bike shop on Monday and Thursday. On Monday I walked in without a mask, but the people behind the counter were all wearing masks. So Ok I thought, they're still wearing masks. So when I went back on Thursday I wore a mask out of politeness. Annnnnd the people behind the counter weren't wearing masks.

 

[Deleted member 545801]

Here's a link to the map, since I didn't see it in the article.

This seems a lot better than a blanket decision for the entire country, and easier for people to keep track of. My county is still at Medium risk, so I'll keep masking for the next few weeks to be safe, then re-assess. I'll probably always wear a mask in a gym going forward, because gyms are disgusting in normal times.

 

[huckl]

Here’s the one piece of information that was actually necessary to include in the article. The tool and map for checking guidance:
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nc ... ounty.html

Edit: Ninja’d \(*Д*)/

 

[AmanoJyaku]

Nothing like an upcoming election to put the lie to previously firmly held convictions.

How so? The numbers support rolling back restrictions in areas of high vaccination. Because the cases, illnesses, and deaths are low.

 

[jdvorak]

I'm curious how the CDC is determining the prevalence levels given the surge in availability of at-home tests. My guess is that a lot of people are not following up on reporting positive or negative, especially since omicron seems to be less severe than the common cold (to a lot of people who are getting over it in 4 days with mild symptoms vs the typical 7-9 day cold).

Kind of the whole point of this article is that they're no longer attempting to determine prevalence levels.

That only matters if they were ever good at determining prevalence in the first place. I recall Fauci saying the vast majority of infections around late 2020 were due to asymptomatic carriers. The upshot is we've probably undercounted infections (prevalence) to a large degree since the onset if most of them have been asymptomatic.

 

[etxdm]

I don't mind wearing a mask around indoor crowds and when flying. The thing that needs to change though, is the requirement for a negative COVID test to return to the US from another country, yet allow people to fly anywhere domestically without testing. That policy hasn't made any sense after the pandemic became a worldwide phenomenon, with the infection rate in the US among the worst.

 

[Veritas super omens]

I hope we are not just taunting the "happy, fun ball" of covid DNA.......

 

[AmanoJyaku]

Good to hear that things are improving.

I'm sticking with a mask, social distancing, and wfh nonetheless. None of it is particularly bothersome, and all do some good.

The 7-day average deaths are only decreasing slightly. And this continues to be a pandemic of the unvaccinated.

Seems odd that I know multiple people who 1) got covid, 2) got vaccinated, 3) got covid again. I also know multiple people who developed heart issues within weeks of getting vaccinated or booster shots - more than the number of people I know who died from it. When checking with friends and family, some have similar experiences, while some know more who died or had sever impacts.

How do you propose that I explain to others that this is a pandemic of the unvaccinated or that the vaccine is worthwhile, given that people tend to trust acquaintences and personal experience over published studies, especially in this day when there are examples like Purdue Pharma and others that show there proffit motives can skew science and regulators?

I propose this by showing statistics of the entire country rather than just anecdotes of your circle of friends?

 

[faustshausuk]

Thanks to a combination of social distance/remote work, hand washing, and mask wearing. I've been able to avoid more than just COVID.

You mean they protect against you having any opportunity to contract STDs too?

Rebel all you want, champ, your mother and I love each other.

 

[Rick C.]

Good to hear that things are improving.

I'm sticking with a mask, social distancing, and wfh nonetheless. None of it is particularly bothersome, and all do some good.

Same here. It works. Never got it. And i'll wait it out until its mostly nothing.

 

[Rick C.]

Thanks to a combination of social distance/remote work, hand washing, and mask wearing. I've been able to avoid more than just COVID.

You mean they protect against you having any opportunity to contract STDs too?

Rebel all you want, champ, your mother and I love each other.

OMG that hurt. Bam!

 

[SixDegrees]

Good to hear that things are improving.

I'm sticking with a mask, social distancing, and wfh nonetheless. None of it is particularly bothersome, and all do some good.

The 7-day average deaths are only decreasing slightly. And this continues to be a pandemic of the unvaccinated.

Seems odd that I know multiple people who 1) got covid, 2) got vaccinated, 3) got covid again. I also know multiple people who developed heart issues within weeks of getting vaccinated or booster shots - more than the number of people I know who died from it. When checking with friends and family, some have similar experiences, while some know more who died or had sever impacts.

How do you propose that I explain to others that this is a pandemic of the unvaccinated or that the vaccine is worthwhile, given that people tend to trust acquaintences and personal experience over published studies, especially in this day when there are examples like Purdue Pharma and others that show there proffit motives can skew science and regulators?

I propose this by showing statistics of the entire country rather than just anecdotes of your circle of friends?

I dunno. His experience seems to totally explain why over 80% of covid-19 hospitalizations in my area are people who are unvaccinated.

Oh, wait...it doesn't really explain that at all, does it?

In fact, it sounds a lot more like poor fan fiction than fact.

 

[SixDegrees]

It would have been nice to think that one of the positives to come out of COVID was a more Asia-esque appreciation

You mean wearing one to avoid feeling unwell because of rampant smog?

No, to prevent disease transmission. That's something I'm aware has been common in Japan and Korea for quite some time - at least a couple decades.

There's more to Asia than China, despite what the Chinese are telling you.

 

[Photon_plumber]

They removed some of the mask requirements here in my area. I can guarantee you the ones who ripped off their masks immediately are also the same people who never socially distanced and continued to be social with large groups, tried to get away with no mask wearing when it was required and are likely not vaccinated. I'd like to stay as far from these people as possible for a few more weeks, until a more long term trend comes out of the numbers.