On Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that it is dropping its mask recommendation in communities where hospitals aren’t under strain due to COVID-19. The new recommendation includes schools where COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations are not high.
During a news briefing, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said, “We want to give people a break from things like mask-wearing.”
In order to help people determine whether they should be wearing a mask, the CDC released a new tool, “COVID-19 County Check,” where you can select your state and county and learn whether your location is at low, medium, or high risk for COVID-19 based on hospital admissions, hospital beds in use, and the latest total number of COVID-19 cases in the area. Each level comes with precautions to take.
Low risk means that you should stay up to date on COVID-19 vaccines and get tested if you show any symptoms.
Medium risk means that if you are at high risk for severe illness, you should talk to your health care provider about whether you need to wear a mask and take other precautions, stay up to date on vaccines, and get tested if you have symptoms.
High risk means that you should continue to wear a mask indoors in public, stay up to date on vaccines, and get tested if you have symptoms. Additional precautions may be needed for people who are at high risk for severe illness.
St. Louis, St. Louis County, and St. Charles are each “medium” risk.
The CDC continues to recommend that people with symptoms, a positive test, or exposure to someone with COVID wear a mask.
Masks will still be required on public transportation and indoors in airports, bus stations, or train stations until at least March 18.
Visit cdc.gov for more information about the new recommendations.
