The mask will therefore no longer be recommended indoors for a majority of the country’s inhabitants, including in many schools.
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The American health authorities largely relaxed their recommendations on Friday February 25 on wearing a mask against Covid-19, which will no longer be recommended indoors for a majority of the country’s inhabitants, including in many schools.
“We are now in a much better place as a nation, with more tools to protect ourselves from Covid-19”said Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC), one of the country’s leading health agencies, at a press conference.
The CDC has so far only used the number of new cases recorded in each county to determine levels of Covid-19 by locality. According to this measure, 95% of the country recorded a high level of transmission of the virus, where the recommendation of wearing a mask indoors for all therefore applied.
But the CDC has now decided to include hospital occupancy rates in its measure, as well as the number of new daily hospitalizations.
As a result, more than 60% of counties, representing 70% of the U.S. population, now record a qualified level of “low” or of “Medium”, and therefore can drop the mask. Only counties with a “high” level of Covid-19 are still subject to the recommendation to wear a mask indoors.