New CDC mask guidance gets mixed reactions — and not just from the GOP

Six months ago, Dr. Sarah Fortune could see an end to the pandemic.

Wednesday morning, Fortune, chair of the immunology and infectious diseases department at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, woke up with "existential dread" about the future of Covid-19.

That's despite new guidance released Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that suggests that everyone, vaccinated or not, wear masks indoors in places where Covid-19 is rapidly spreading.

Fortune supports the new guidance, which has been widely praised by experts like her, saying it will surely save lives.

Still, "masking is just not the solution," she said.

Case numbers are climbing as a fourth wave of infection caused by the delta variant sweeps the country. Hospitalizations in states with low vaccination rates are surging. Suddenly, cities and counties are reinstating indoor mask mandates that they just triumphantly repealed — now with the CDC's support.

The guidance announced Tuesday has been met with outrage from many Republican officials and caused frustration among the already vaccinated. To some who study infectious diseases, it feels like dispatching a single lifeboat to a sinking ship with 50 people on board.