CDC relaxes Covid guidance allowing most people to ditch masks if hospitalizations remain low

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention relaxed its mask guidance on Friday, allowing most people to ditch their face coverings so long as Covid-19 hospitalizations in their communities remain low.

Under the new CDC guidance, people are advised to wear masks in public areas indoors, including schools, when there’s a lot of virus circulation in their communities that could overwhelm local hospitals. More than 70% of Americans live in communities where wearing masks is no longer recommended under the new CDC guidelines, because hospitals are not under severe threat from...