News Update

CDC changes mask guidance again as Covid rates increase

The Centers for Disease Control changed course Tuesday and recommended that even vaccinated people wear masks indoors in areas with “substantial” or “high”  transmission rates.

Forty-six of the state’s counties are in this range, according to CDC data.

California already mandates that students and staff wear masks inside.

The Centers for Disease Control also recommended that vaccinated and unvaccinated people wear masks if they are living in households with people who are immunocompromised or who are at risk for severe illness if they are exposed to Covid-19.

The CDC made the decision to change its guidance — which had only asked unvaccinated people to remain masked — after Covid-19 cases increased 300 percent nationally between June 19 and July 23.

“The delta variant is more than two times as transmissible as the original strains circulating at the start of the pandemic and is causing large, rapid increases in infections, which could compromise the capacity of some local and regional health care systems to provide medical care for the communities they serve,” according to the Centers for Disease Control.