CDC Recommends Vaccinated People Wear Masks Indoors in High Transmission Areas

The Centers for Disease Control on Tuesday recommended that vaccinated people in areas with “substantial or high” COVID-19 transmission wear masks in public indoor settings. As of Tuesday, 46% of U.S. counties had “high transmission” and 17% had “substantial transmission,” including most counties in most Southern and Western states; every county in Arkansas, Florida and Louisiana had high transmission on Tuesday. CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said the change came after new research showed that vaccinated people with rare “breakthrough” infections could spread the virus as easily as the unvaccinated. The CDC also recommended on Tuesday that K-12 students, teachers and staff wear masks indoors when they return to in-person school, regardless of vaccination status. The CDC previously said in May that vaccinated people no longer needed to wear masks in most indoor settings. However, a surge in cases of the more transmissible Delta variant has led many states to see thousands of new cases per day, mainly among the unvaccinated. 

Coverage in left- and center-rated outlets focused more on rising case numbers, sometimes including maps of high transmission areas. Coverage in right-rated outlets focused more on the CDC’s school mask guidelines, with some coverage focusing on criticism from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.