US CDC Updates Prevention Guidelines: "70% Do Not Need to Wear Masks Indoors"

COVID-19 vaccination at Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, USA.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Seoyoung Kwon] As confidence in COVID-19 wanes, U.S. health authorities have recommended that about 70% of Americans do not need to wear masks indoors.

On the 25th, The New York Times (NYT) and CNN reported that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced new COVID-19 prevention guidelines. According to these, the CDC has expanded the COVID-19 risk assessment criteria to three factors: the number of new cases in the past week (per 100,000 population), the number of new hospitalizations, and the hospital bed occupancy rate for COVID-19 patients.

This marks a shift from assessing risk solely based on new case numbers to also considering hospitalizations and hospital bed capacity. In response, Xavier Becerra, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, stated, "Now is the time to focus not only on COVID-19 case numbers but also on severity."

The new guidelines allow county governments to assess their local COVID-19 risk level as low, medium, or high based on these three criteria. The CDC recommends that in areas classified as low or medium risk, people who have completed their COVID-19 vaccinations do not need to wear masks indoors or practice social distancing.

However, the CDC also advised that individuals in medium-risk areas who are high-risk groups, such as those with underlying conditions or the elderly, should consult with a doctor before making decisions. Furthermore, it emphasized that unvaccinated individuals should wear masks indoors and maintain social distancing even in areas classified as low risk.

Applying these new guidelines, about 28% of the U.S. population lives in areas where the COVID-19 risk is high enough to recommend indoor mask-wearing. Under previous CDC guidelines, 99% of Americans were advised to wear masks indoors.

Rochelle Walensky, CDC Director, stated that the new guidelines provide a framework that can be adjusted according to changes in the spread of COVID-19, helping people decide which preventive measures to take. She explained about the new guidelines, "We have shifted focus to protecting high-risk groups who are more likely to experience severe illness and preventing hospital saturation."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.