Even though the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended vaccinated individuals did not need to wear masks indoors two months ago, experts now are calling for people to “vax it and mask it.”
Los Angeles County this weekend mandated masks indoors, though the county sheriff announced he wouldn’t enforce it. Other California counties also recommended masks indoors. Arkansas, Missouri and New York are weighing mask mandates as cases spike in those states.
And the American Academy of Pediatrics issued recommendations Monday for the 2021-22 school year that include everyone older than age 2 wearing masks, regardless of vaccination status.
“Instead of vax it OR mask it, the emerging data suggest CDC should be advising to vax it and mask it in areas with (rising) cases and positivity until we see numbers going back down again,” former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams said on Twitter.
The weekly rolling average for cases in the United States has nearly tripled in the last month. The pace of deaths also is up sharply — 24.7% from its low point two weeks ago.
CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said on NBC News that there may be contexts in which local officials need to make decisions different from national ones.
“There are areas of this country where about a third of people are vaccinated. They have low vaccination rates. And there are areas that have more disease,” Walensky said.
“Those masking policies are not to protect the vaccinated, they’re to protect…
