PHILADELPHIA (AP/KYW Newsradio) — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released new ways to measure the effects of COVID-19, which drastically changes the universal masking requirement.
The CDC outlined its new set of measures for communities where COVID-19 is easing its grip, with less of a focus on positive test results and more on what’s happening at hospitals. The new metrics are designed to try to protect people at high risk for severe illness from COVID-19, and to protect the health care system from getting overwhelmed.
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The new system greatly changes the look of the CDC’s risk map and puts more than 70% of the U.S. population in counties where the coronavirus is posing a low or medium threat to hospitals. Those are the people who can stop wearing masks, the agency said.
The agency is still advising people, including schoolchildren, to wear masks where the risk of COVID-19 is high. That’s the situation in about 37% of U.S. counties, where about 28% of Americans live.
The new recommendations do not change the requirement to wear masks on public transportation and indoors in airports, train stations and bus stations.
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The CDC guidelines for other indoor spaces aren’t binding, meaning cities and institutions even in areas of low risk may set their own rules. And, the agency says people with COVID-19 symptoms or who test positive shouldn’t stop wearing masks.
The masking requirement remains in effect at least through March 18, when the current order is set to expire. Philadelphia is not expected to make any changes to its guidance until Monday at the earliest.
With protection from immunity rising — both from vaccination and infection — the overall risk of severe disease is now generally lower, the CDC said.
“Anybody is certainly welcome to wear a mask at any time if they feel safer wearing a mask,” CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said in a news briefing. “We want to make sure our hospitals are OK and people are not coming in with severe disease... Anyone can go to the CDC website, find out the volume of disease in their community and make that decision.”
All of the Philadelphia region, including New Jersey and Delaware, is in the medium category. Philadelphia is not expected to make any changes to its guidance until Monday at the earliest.
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Acting Pennsylvania Health Secretary Keara Klinepeter said the commonwealth will continue to follow CDC guidance.
“Pennsylvania is well-positioned with the tools, knowledge and resources that we have to prioritize prevention in everyday life, and manage future outbreaks when they occur,” she said.
Montgomery County Office of Public Health Medical Director Dr. Richard Lorraine said it’s a noteworthy milepost in the eventual shift from pandemic to endemic.
“Number one, there's less of a focus on the total number of cases, and more on the severity of the cases," said Dr. Lorraine.
"Number two, there's more of an acceptance of a level of risk, that the overall risk goes down.”
He said there are generally fewer hospitalizations and deaths because of multiple factors including increased immunity, and from better treatments.
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