(CNN) — The change in the CDC guidance recommending that all Americans wear face masks indoors in areas with high COVID-19 transmission is a sign of the shift that the delta variant has created in the pandemic landscape, Dr. Anthony Fauci told CNN.
“We don’t change the science,” the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases told CNN’s Chris Cuomo. “The virus changed and science evolved with the changing virus,” he added.
Before Tuesday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advised that only unvaccinated people wear masks indoors. But with the spread of the delta variant – which is believed to be at least twice as transmissible as the alpha variant, which dominated the US in the spring – and while vaccination rates remain low as well as infection rates increase, CDC updated its guide to advise everyone in high transmission areas to wear a mask when indoors.
Currently, only 49.2% of the US population is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to the CDC.
Some experts point to unvaccinated Americans as a major factor in changing the mask guidance. They say the measure had to be implemented for them to be covered.
“Eighty million American adults made a decision. They made the decision not to get vaccinated, and those same people are not wearing masks. That is the force that is spreading this virus across the country,” said Dr. Jonathan Reiner, analyst. CNN doctor.
CDC data to update the guide
But others, including the CDC, said the decision had more to do with new data showing that, unlike other strains, vaccinated people who are infected with the delta variant may still have high viral loads, increasing the odds. from spreading the virus.
“Unlike the alpha variant we had in May, where we did not believe that if you were vaccinated you could transmit more, this is different now with the delta variant,” said CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky, citing information that the researchers found by looking at the clumps of outbreaks.
With nearly all 50 states seeing an increase in new cases averaging at least 10% more than the previous week, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, Dr. Vivek Murthy, US Chief Health Officer, He said the country is seeing how dangerous the real-time variant is.
“This is really what you want to happen with science. You want science to be dynamic, you want recommendations that reflect the latest science. And that’s what you see in the recommendations that were issued today,” Murthy told Wolf Blitzer of CNN on Tuesday.
But one thing hasn’t changed, Murthy added, saying the data still shows that current vaccines are highly protective against infections, serious illness and death from the delta variant.
Vaccines remain the ‘cornerstone’ to end the pandemic
While wearing face masks will help reduce the spread of COVID-19 in the US, getting vaccinated remains “the cornerstone” of ending the pandemic, Murthy said.
“The covid-19 vaccines still work. They still save lives. They still prevent hospitalizations at a remarkably high rate,” he added.
Vaccination rates are not yet where they should be to get enough of the American vaccine against the virus to slow or stop its spread, experts have said. Many have advocated for vaccine requirements as a way to increase vaccination rates in the US.
Los Angeles officials announced Tuesday that the city will require all of its employees to show proof of vaccination or undergo weekly testing.
“The fourth wave is here. And the choice for Angelenos could not be clearer: get vaccinated or receive COVID-19,” Mayor Eric Garcetti said in a statement. “We are committed to pursuing a full COVID-19 vaccine mandate. I urge Los Angeles employers to follow suit,” he added.
The move comes after the number of people hospitalized with coronavirus in Los Angeles County nearly doubled in the past two weeks. There are currently 745 people hospitalized with the virus, compared with 372 people two weeks ago, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.
Such requirements from local authorities are “very reasonable,” Murthy said Tuesday.
Some hospitals and federal agencies in the US require employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 or undergo regular tests. Murthy noted that many private institutions are considering doing the same.
“Those are decisions that the federal government is not going to make,” Murthy told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. “It will be institutions that do them. But I think they are very reasonable, because this is a moment in which we must take all possible measures to protect not only ourselves, but the people around us, from covid-19” .
Officials call for more covid-19 vaccines because hospitals are overwhelmed
The impact of the delta variant and the increase in cases can be seen in the data and in the tension in the hospitals.
After declines in recent months, COVID-19 cases among children and teens are on the rise again, with more than 38,600 infected last week, the American Academy of Pediatrics reported Tuesday.
More than 4.13 million children have tested positive for COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic. Children represent more than 14% of the cases reported weekly.
In Missouri’s Springfield-Greene County, the CoxHealth hospital system has to expand its morgue capacity due to an increase in COVID-19-related deaths, President and CEO Steve Edwards said Tuesday.
“Last year we expanded it and we are expanding it even more. In fact, we have incorporated a piece of wearable technology that allows the bodies to be cooled and placed outside of the morgue. We have had to expand that because mortality has increased so much lately,” he said Edwards during a county data updatef on behalf of CoxHealth.
Explaining what he called the “severity of the disease,” Edwards said: “We have had more than 4,000 covid admissions. And with 549 deaths, that means 13.5% of our admissions have died. And when we look at our ICU, about 40% of the patients who are in the ICU do not leave there “.
In New Orleans, as cases increased, hospitals were constrained by resources and began turning people away, New Orleans city communications director Beau Tidwell said Tuesday.
“For the love of God, get vaccinated,” he added.
CDC Calls for More Covid-19 Vaccination
The CDC called on doctors and public health officials to act urgently to vaccinate more Americans.
“Covid-19 cases have increased more than 300% nationally from June 19 to July 23, 2021, along with parallel increases in hospitalizations and deaths caused by the highly communicable variant B.1.617.2 (delta) “said the CDC in a health alert on Tuesday.
Without more vaccination, the US could see an increase in covid-19-related morbidity and mortality, which could continue to overwhelm healthcare facilities, the CDC said.
CNN’s Maggie Fox, Lauren Mascarenhas, Sarah Moon, Jen Christensen, Raja Razek, and Jennifer Feldman contributed to this report.
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