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

 

[real mikeb_60]

It's just interesting to see the correlation between counties with "high" Covid-19 Community Level and those that are Republican-dominated. It's especially clear in CA & OR for the counties that identify as members of the State of Jefferson. A caveat for the West, though, is the size of the counties and the probability that a large area might be dominated by a dense population in a small portion of it - such as San Bernardino County in CA. The smaller counties Back East provide much better precision.

 

[DavidT256]

Mask mandates have been extremely helpful, for limiting my own exposure.
During a mask mandate, when you notice the only guy in the grocery store NOT wearing a mask, you know to stay away from him. Chances are pretty good that this person isn’t vaccinated, or practicing social distancing either. Don’t go near these people.

Mask mandates were a convenient way of asking the deplorables to identify themselves, without having to engage with them.

 

[maddave0]

For comparison, over in the UK we no longer have any COVID restrictions, even if you test positive.

Everything is tracking down still and the death rate is well below the 5 year average
https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/

Life does feel like its back to normal (although still working from home).

 

[foxyshadis]

For comparison, over in the UK we no longer have any COVID restrictions, even if you test positive.

Everything is tracking down still and the death rate is well below the 5 year average
https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/

Life does feel like its back to normal (although still working from home).

It seems very likely that many businesses have re-engineered their workflows to the point that they now see enough savings in rent, electricity, HVAC, etc, that WFH is going to be a permanent part of the professional landscape from now on, where it used to mostly be considered the domain of sick employees, digital nomads, and fiver-style giggers.

 

[jdale]

For comparison, over in the UK we no longer have any COVID restrictions, even if you test positive.

Everything is tracking down still and the death rate is well below the 5 year average
https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/

Life does feel like its back to normal (although still working from home).

"Death rate is well below the 5 year average" is a weird measure. I guess once enough people die early it suppresses the death rate going forward for a bit? There are still ~120 people dying of covid-19 every day in the UK, so it's not that covid-19 has stopped killing people.

 

[iquanyin]

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.

i was trained by one of the best copy editors in the country, and supported my family editing books. i agree: the wording does imply that they recommend *not* wearing a mask, tho technically it’s what you show, neutral.

but a good editor and a careful writer would reword it. “the cdc takes no position on wearing masks” or some such would do the trick.

writing is about communicating. that sentence does it a very poor job of conveying the meaning.

 

[Iggy the Jiggy Piggy]

It's fundamentally about people. Do you spend time with them? Do you spend a lot of time with them? Do you spend a lot of time with them in an enclosed space?

 

[Iggy the Jiggy Piggy]

While far from my personal preference, I expect that everyone will get COVID at some point, and that it will continue to circulate in the population. We will probably kill a million more Americans over the length of this pandemic - even as it transitions to endemic status. Vaccination rates will increase as those who don't have immunity repeatedly get it (and I've seen that happen in very short order to family members who still refuse to get vaccinated), and those who get it will acquire some levels of temporary immunity that MAY at some point several years from now finally achieve herd immunity.

Of course, that will be long after the rest of the world with sane leaders and mostly responsible citizens have basically returned to normal, and are banning Americans (and those from other countries with the same shitty compliance issues) from entering their countries each time an outbreak happens.

There is not going to be a happy ending here. We'll just realize some day that we're living with it not because we have to, but because not enough people here want to prevent it.

I got covid. You'll likely get it. Kind of a bummer. But there's not much reason to think that this little bugger will kill a shit-ton more people now that nearly everyone is vaccinated, exposed, or both.

The current day being what it is, you'll please forgive me the war-like mental framing of the difference between
* "Ha, ha, that was nothing! We wiped that turd from the map at little cost to ourselves"
and
* "That fucking sucked, a lot of people died, we must remember and consecrate this event"
But at the end of both of those, we won and we move on. You can quibble about whether we move on this week, or this month, but if you think the vast majority of people will care in a year, I don't know what to tell you.

Enjoy nihilism if you want to, but it's already out of fashion.

I think you're wrong about everyone eventually getting Covid. Some people are more vulnerable than others in their day to day activities.

 

[maddave0]

"Death rate is well below the 5 year average" is a weird measure. I guess once enough people die early it suppresses the death rate going forward for a bit? There are still ~120 people dying of covid-19 every day in the UK, so it's not that covid-19 has stopped killing people.

Those people may not have died from covid, it just means they tested positive sometime within the previous 28 days (For instance get tested and come back positive but are feeling fine, then get run over by a bus a week later and die, you still get added to that statistic even though your death was nothing to do with covid)

Comparing the death rate to previous years is really the only way to know how things are going but yes it probably is a little skewed due to all the extra deaths in the last couple of years.
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulation ... anuary2022

 

[Iggy the Jiggy Piggy]

Mask mandates have been extremely helpful, for limiting my own exposure.
During a mask mandate, when you notice the only guy in the grocery store NOT wearing a mask, you know to stay away from him. Chances are pretty good that this person isn’t vaccinated, or practicing social distancing either. Don’t go near these people.

Mask mandates were a convenient way of asking the deplorables to identify themselves, without having to engage with them.

I took off my mask the first chance I got. I wouldn't have done so if I wasn't vaccinated.

Newly added fyi: There weren't mask mandates where I lived.

 

[PrimalxConvoy]

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.

Living in Japan, I now don't want to really ever got back to the UK, etc for the foreseeable future.

 

[shunted]

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.

Living in Japan, I now don't want to really ever got back to the UK, etc for the foreseeable future.

We haven't seen how these countries which did strict lockdowns will fare with reopening yet. It's still early in the 4th quarter of this thing.

 

[dimathiel]

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.

The cynic in me thinks it might be a trade barrier thing. An item in trade negotiations they can “give” for the same and or other concessions.

 

[fenncruz]

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.

That would require people to take responsibility for their actions. That will never happen.

 

[lurch1989]

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.

Unfortunately it makes very little difference, it's the 10 X 5% reductions that make the difference.

Really, if you don't feel well, stay at home.

That said, there is "some" benefit from being exposed to mild viruses as this may build immunity. (Look at what happens to remote tribes when exposed to Western diseases)

 

[nbs2]

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...

Where we are, one of our counties uses an automatic SnapBack (or at least claims they do), another doesn’t and has tried to take a holistic measure (I.e., follow the first county). I will note that the automatic county hasn’t updated their metrics, which make more sense in a world where covid could be eliminated rather than become endemic.

 

[deus01]

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.

It's just politics since airlines are the ones enforcing the testing requirements on international flights and CBP daf. There would be massive outrage from Republicans if this was a domestic requirement but they're happy to have rules to make it harder for foreigners to enter the US so they'll tolerate international restrictions because they like xenophobic policy.

 

[dvessel]

Any thoughts on using the local hospital occupancy as an indicator? The CDC guidelines are showing low community transmission for my area but the local hospital is at > 90% occupancy. They obviously treat more than COVID but I’ll keep wearing masks for now.

https://data.rgj.com/covid-19-hospital-capacity/

 

[siliconaddict]

Honestly? At this point I'm wearing a mask indefinitely when I go to public places that are crowded. Even after the pandemic. Its just become the norm. And I don't care what people think. I haven't gotten a cold in 2 years most likely because mask + more common hand washing + being mindful of what I touch + keeping space between myself and others at checkouts.

 

[AmanoJyaku]

As we get closer to the midterms the mask science will keep changing


Can't f*cking wait till November.

The science has not changed, but feel free to list citations. It's the policy that has changed, to reflect the results of the science.

For example, when the doctor decides you no longer need chemo because tests show your cancer is gone.

This is a gross simplification, but there are three outcomes once a disease becomes a pandemic:

• We all die, pandemic over
• We reach heard immunity, pandemic over
• We live with protective measures forever

Fortunately, COVID isn't severe enough to kill us all. And scientists agree herd immunity is impossible without high rates of vaccination...

Which leaves us with perpetual protective measures. The measures aren't working because there aren't enough members of the public following them. We can keep playing this game for the rest of our lives, or just accept the reality that those who refuse protective measures like vaccines will take the brunt of the damage.

 

[TMilligan]

Honestly? At this point I'm wearing a mask indefinitely when I go to public places that are crowded. Even after the pandemic. Its just become the norm. And I don't care what people think. I haven't gotten a cold in 2 years most likely because mask + more common hand washing + being mindful of what I touch + keeping space between myself and others at checkouts.

Ive mentioned that before too. I’ve been less sick during the Covid pandemic compared to any time in my life.

 

[Velvet G]

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.

Completely agree with this. After spending a year of protecting my mom who was battling cancer, I'm completely fine with continuing to mask up if it gives anyone else in my situation even a little more time with their loved ones. I know too many people around me who lost loved ones but couldn't all be with them because of Covid restrictions. Almost through it is not through it. Sacrificing (if you can even call it that), a little longer for the greater good is worth it to me, but people will do what they will. I'll just limit my time them and everybody wins.

 

[jyh_]

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.

Living in Japan, I now don't want to really ever got back to the UK, etc for the foreseeable future.

We haven't seen how these countries which did strict lockdowns will fare with reopening yet. It's still early in the 4th quarter of this thing.

Looking at the two "model students" of the Zero-COVID approach, it's not that promising.
New Zealand allowed on Jan. 7th spouses and dependents of NZ citizens to enter the country. Their tally for Feb. 26th alone was 13,625 new cases. That is, about their *cumulated* total on Dec. 25th.
Taiwan is still mostly closed and they pee their collective panties each time a new "cluster" of twelve cases is reported in Taoyuan. To give an idea of the current mentality. Today's Taipei Times is reporting:
"Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, yesterday visited Kaohsiung’s Cijin District (旗津) with Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) and other CECC officials to show support to local communities hit hard by a COVID-19 cluster linked to Kaohsiung Harbor last month."
The local communities were "hit hard" last month by less than a hundred cases. Taiwan is *considering* reducing quarantine time for business travelers from 14 to 10 days, regardless of vaccination status. Contrary to other SE Asian countries (Thailand and Cambodia in particular), lack of tourism hasn't impacted their economy at all. I don't see them reopening anytime soon.

 

[VividVerism]

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.

Living in Japan, I now don't want to really ever got back to the UK, etc for the foreseeable future.

We haven't seen how these countries which did strict lockdowns will fare with reopening yet. It's still early in the 4th quarter of this thing.

Looking at the two "model students" of the Zero-COVID approach, it's not that promising.
New Zealand allowed on Jan. 7th spouses and dependents of NZ citizens to enter the country. Their tally for Feb. 26th alone was 13,625 new cases. That is, about their *cumulated* total on Dec. 25th.
Taiwan is still mostly closed and they pee their collective panties each time a new "cluster" of twelve cases is reported in Taoyuan. To give an idea of the current mentality. Today's Taipei Times is reporting:
"Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, yesterday visited Kaohsiung’s Cijin District (旗津) with Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) and other CECC officials to show support to local communities hit hard by a COVID-19 cluster linked to Kaohsiung Harbor last month."
The local communities were "hit hard" last month by less than a hundred cases. Taiwan is *considering* reducing quarantine time for business travelers from 14 to 10 days, regardless of vaccination status. Contrary to other SE Asian countries (Thailand and Cambodia in particular), lack of tourism hasn't impacted their economy at all. I don't see them reopening anytime soon.

And how are they doing on severe illness and/or death rates?

My understanding is New Zealand in particular has some pretty good vaccination rates. I'm guessing they still come out ahead in the end.

 

[isage]

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

It may be a difficult concept but a few people do make decisions based on science and not political affiliation. Case reports have fallen more than 90 percent from their January peak - NY Times. Does the "lie" part refer to standard measures to manage a communicable disease the that killed > 900k people in the US?

 

[tuna74]

Honestly? At this point I'm wearing a mask indefinitely when I go to public places that are crowded. Even after the pandemic. Its just become the norm. And I don't care what people think. I haven't gotten a cold in 2 years most likely because mask + more common hand washing + being mindful of what I touch + keeping space between myself and others at checkouts.

Ive mentioned that before too. I’ve been less sick during the Covid pandemic compared to any time in my life.

You probably have been exposed to fewer endemic viruses than you did before. This might give you weaker protection to similar viruses in the future, but as long as you can stay totally clear from them you should be OK!

 

[jarvis]

I would love to see this map overlayed with a map of primarily democatric vs. replublican gerrymandered lines. I'm guessing they would line up quite nicely. Thankfully I am in an area with no red - it's all green around me. And then some yellow. But so may people here still were masks every even if they don't have to - New England / Boston area.

 

[ganjadude43]

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.

i agree. While I have always been anti mandate, not anti mask, I do however love the idea of individuals masking up when they are sick to protect others and hope the trend continues in america going forward.

 

[dooferorg]

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.

Not sure why you were downvoted, because you're likely 100% correct.

 

[Astro-CCD]

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.

My guess is you will need to avoid these people forever...

 

[letsief]

As we get closer to the midterms the mask science will keep changing


Can't f*cking wait till November.

The science has not changed, but feel free to list citations. It's the policy that has changed, to reflect the results of the science.

For example, when the doctor decides you no longer need chemo because tests show your cancer is gone.

This is a gross simplification, but there are three outcomes once a disease becomes a pandemic:

• We all die, pandemic over
• We reach heard immunity, pandemic over
• We live with protective measures forever

Fortunately, COVID isn't severe enough to kill us all. And scientists agree herd immunity is impossible without high rates of vaccination...

Which leaves us with perpetual protective measures. The measures aren't working because there aren't enough members of the public following them. We can keep playing this game for the rest of our lives, or just accept the reality that those who refuse protective measures like vaccines will take the brunt of the damage.

The issue with herd immunity isn’t vaccine resistance, since nearly everyone will eventually get infected with covid. While initial studies were mixed, the general agreement now is that naturally-acquired immunity and vaccine-acquired immunity provide similar levels of protection.

The problem is that in both cases the durability and efficacy of that level of protection isn’t strong enough to provide measles-like herd immunity. That’s why eradication has never been an option once the virus started spreading widely.

 

[VividVerism]

The problem is that in both cases the durability and efficacy of that level of protection isn’t strong enough to provide measles-like herd immunity. That’s why eradication has never been an option with the current vaccines once the virus omicron variant started spreading widely.

FTFY. Before Omicron variant, the vaccines were still technically capable of getting us to herd immunity (although Delta made it unlikely). Before Delta it was even likely if we hadn't gotten a more contagious variant like we did.

And I, for one, have not given up hope for a more effective vaccine making it possible once again.

I'll agree eradication is not possible now, at this moment, with the treatments and vaccines we have today. But this whole "eradication was never possible" thing is a lie spread so people can feel better about fucking up the response to the point that it isn't possible now.

 

[AustinAllan]

Looking at the history of the 1918 Spanish flu, I would not be surprised if dropping mask mandates will result in yet another wave of Covid hospitalizations and deaths.

 

[zelmak]

Is there an animated infographic of the posted graph that shows change over time? Maybe even worldwide?

 

[SixDegrees]

Looking at the history of the 1918 Spanish flu, I would not be surprised if dropping mask mandates will result in yet another wave of Covid hospitalizations and deaths.

Maybe. But so far, spikes correlate pretty much perfectly with holidays, ramping up a week or two following and peaking within a month or two before beginning to fall again. We're coming off the christmas/new year surge right now and have been on the downslope for a bit already. We're coming up on spring break, followed by memorial day, both of which have produced spikes in the past and almost certainly will again.

I don't think we'll actually see much change in masking/social distancing as a result of this advice. Those who don't want to wear masks already aren't; those who do will likely continue. There may be a small decrease in masking, but I doubt it will be significant enough to cause a noticeable spike.

 

[Deleted member 388703]

 

[AmanoJyaku]

Would Trump and his administration do this for America?

Moment ex-president brandishes Kalashnikov rifle on streets of Ukraine

https://news.yahoo.com/ukraine-crisis-m ... 00107.html

 

[SixDegrees]

Would Trump and his administration do this for America?

Moment ex-president brandishes Kalashnikov rifle on streets of Ukraine

https://news.yahoo.com/ukraine-crisis-m ... 00107.html

Trump's lips are too firmly wrapped around Putin's cock. He'd be bargaining with Moscow for resort permits in Kyiv.