CDC Re-issues Guidance to Mask, however, City Prioritizes Vaccination as the Main Issue

by Yehudit Garmaise

     As hospitalization rates continue to slowly tick up with COVID patients who were unvaccinated, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CRC) re-issued guidance for fully vaccinated Americans to wear masks in some indoor areas" in regions that have growing cases and  "substantial and high transmission” “to help prevent spread of Delta and to protect others."

     In addition, the CDC said that all students, even those who have been vaccinated, who will attend kindergarten through 12th grade, this fall, should wear masks when they return to school.

     Last week, the American Academy of Pediatrics also recommended that children 2 and older should wear masks when they go back to school.

     In explaining the new mask guidance, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, MD, MPH, told reporters over a call, "Information on the Delta variant from several states and other countries indicate that in rare occasions, some vaccinated people infected with the Delta variant after vaccination may be contagious and spread the virus to others."

     "This new science is worrisome and unfortunately warrants an update to our recommendations," Dr. Walensky said.

     Although CDC is again pushing masks, Mayor Bill de Blasio and his top doctors insist on a daily basis that New York City residents, 71% of whom have received one vaccination dose “are recognizing the only thing that's going to save us is vaccination.”

       On July 8, Dr. Walensky also said that "99.5% of deaths from COVID-19 in the U.S. were from unvaccinated people.  

     "Those deaths were preventable with a simple, safe shot," Dr. Walensky said.

     “Hospitalizations are increasing, but the hospitalizations are among unvaccinated people,” said Mitch Katz, MD, the CEO of the city’s Health + Hospitals. “It remains exceedingly rare for anybody who is vaccinated to get sick enough to need the hospital."

     As New York City considers how to institute the CDC’s new guidance, Dave A. Chokshi, MD, the city’s health commissioner, reminded that some locations in the city already have several mask mandates still in place: “regardless of vaccination status including in schools, in health care facilities, in congregate settings, and in public transit, like subways and buses.”

     While children are going to be expected to mask this fall, 12 to 17-year-olds, 251,000 of whom in New York City have already gotten their shots, are eligible to be vaccinated against COVID.

     “We are planning to redouble our efforts in the weeks leading up to school, so you're going to see a major push,” said Dr. Chokshi, who explained that “working in close partnerships with the city’s pediatricians” is a big part of the city’s plan to get as many 12-to-17 year-olds vaccinated before school starts in the fall.

    "New Yorkers beat back COVID before: going from the highest positivity rate on the globe to one of the lowest: by staying smart, following the science, and having each other's backs, and that's exactly what we'll keep doing in this next phase of the pandemic," Gov. Andrew Cuomo said today. "We are reviewing the CDC's new recommendations closely in consultation with federal and state health experts."

(Photo by: Darren McGee- Office of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo)