UPDATED: 8 a.m., July 28
PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The CDC is revising its recommendations on masks. The new guidance says anyone in areas with substantial or high transmission of COVID-19 should wear masks when indoors, even if they’re vaccinated.
Two counties in the Philadelphia region are affected by the new guidelines. Atlantic and Ocean counties in New Jersey have had what the CDC calls "substantial" levels of COVID-19 transmission in the past week.
While much of the country is seeing a rise in cases and a move into the "substantial" or "high" categories, the rest of the counties in South Jersey, and most of Pennsylvania and Delaware — including all of suburban Philadelphia — have 'moderate' levels of transmission and do not fall under this new federal guidance.
Across the country, CDC data show nearly two-thirds of counties have high or substantial COVID transmission, meaning there are at least 50 new infections for every 100,000 people in the last seven days.
Explaining the change in policy, CDC Director Dr. Rachel Walensky points to an unpublished study of 100 cases. She said that study shows that even vaccinated people may spread the delta variant.
The number of breakthrough cases has increased, but many health officials note the symptoms are mild. They say the vast majority of people who are hospitalized with COVID-19 are unvaccinated.
Some health experts point out most people took off their masks and started getting together when the CDC lifted the mask mandate. That included unvaccinated people, so it was expected cases would go up.
Federal health officials say the move back to masks isn’t flip-flopping, but instead is reacting to new information.
Health officials like Dr. Richard Lorraine, the medical director for Montgomery County’s Office of Public Health, say masks are beneficial when the level of community spread is high, but when the level of virus is low like it is now, the benefit of masks is very low.
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Last week, Philadelphia strongly recommended people wear a mask in public, even if they’re vaccinated. Masks are also still required on planes, buses and trains.
The grand majority of health officials agree the best move is to get vaccinated.
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