The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has officially updated their guidelines to recommend that some people who are fully vaccinated return to wearing masks indoors.
Specifically, those living in areas with “high” or “substantial” levels of COVID-19 transmission should resume wearing masks. All of Florida, as well as both Orange County and LA County, California, are high transmission areas, according to the CDC’s tracker. 46% of counties in the U.S.A. as a whole have high transmission and 17% have substantial transmission.
Vaccinated people who live or frequently interact with at-risk individuals (such as children under 12 and/or the immunocompromised) should also wear masks indoors.
CNN reports that CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walnsky told reporters, “In recent days I have seen new scientific data from recent outbreak investigations showing that that Delta variant behaves uniquely differently from past strains of the virus that cause COVID-19. This new science is worrisome and unfortunately warrants an update to our recommendations.”
COVID-19 cases have been on the rise in the past few weeks and months, especially with the Delta variant spreading. In the past month, the Delta variant has gone from comprising 26% of U.S. COVID-19 cases to 83% of cases.
Neither Disney nor Universal have made announcements regarding updated mask guidelines at their Florida and California parks. Orange County, Florida Mayor Jerry Demings has been urging individuals to mask up and businesses to require masks again as the county reached 1,000 new cases in a day.
