The Centers for Disease Control have altered their recommendation for universal masking requirements in healthcare settings.
According to The Hill, it represents a “significant shift” from the CDC’s earlier advice of widespread masking to combat the COVID-19 outbreak.
Updates were made, according to the CDC’s updated advice, “to reflect the high levels of infection- and vaccine-induced immunity as well as the availability of effective treatments and preventative strategies.”
The organisation now maintains that facilities in areas with low transmission levels can choose for themselves whether to mandate mask use for everyone, including doctors, patients, and visitors.
The CDC stated that the “metric currently recommended to guide select practises in healthcare settings is community transmission to allow for earlier intervention, before there is burden on the healthcare system and to better safeguard the individuals seeking care in these settings.”
According to The Hill, transmission rates are “high” in about 73% of the country.
The “community level” metric employed in non-health care contexts is distinct from “community transmission.”
According to the CDC, measures of the prevalence and spread of SARS-CoV-2 are referred to as community transmission. Community levels emphasise assessments of COVID-19’s impact in terms of hospitalizations and demand on the healthcare system while taking community transmission into account.
Only 7% of counties are thought to be high danger, whereas almost 62% are thought to be low risk.
According to the CDC, the new recommendations are applicable everywhere healthcare is provided, including nursing homes and home health.
