CDC Reverses Indoor Mask Guidance for Fully Vaccinated – NBC New York

The long-rumored development in the CDC’s guidance comes after the Biden administration reviewed data suggesting fully vaccinated people are not only contracting COVID but might be carrying higher viral levels than previously thought, increasing the risk of infecting others, the sources said.

It wasn’t immediately clear what would qualify as a “high transmission area” under the CDC’s expected new guidance. The agency has scheduled a briefing for later Tuesday.

Immunized people are thought to still represent a fraction of new transmission — and for weeks, the overwhelming majority of new hospitalizations, deaths and severe cases have been among individuals who have yet to get inoculated.

According to the sources, those facts prompted an internal debate among leading health officials: Should they recommend a uniform return to indoor masking? Should they suggest additional or renewed suggestions? Or merely inform?

The nation’s leading infectious disease doctor took more of a warning approach over the weekend, perhaps planting the seeds for Tuesday’s developments. Dr. Anthony Fauci said that the United States was heading in the “wrong direction” on the pandemic and that recommending vaccinated people wear masks inside was “under active consideration’’ by the government’s leading public health officials.

Positive COVID-19 cases have nearly doubled throughout New York in the past week as vaccinations slow, the highly contagious delta variant spreads and public officials look at the possibility of requiring masks indoors again. NBC New York’s Phil Lipof reports.

Multiple cities and states have issued new vaccine-or-test mandates or reinstated mask rules in recent weeks amid the delta variant-driven case surge, including two of the former epicenters — California and New York.

Health officials say the variant makes up about seven in 10 new cases in New York City — it is by far the dominant COVID strain in the five boroughs and nationwide. Meanwhile, the number of vaccine doses being administered daily in the city has dropped to less than 18,000, down from more than 100,000 in early April.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Monday that every city employee will have to either be vaccinated against COVID-19 or get tested weekly starting in mid-September. He described that a day later as “positive pressure” to get vaccinated.

It expanded his policy announcement a week ago that workers in New York City-run hospitals and health clinics must either get vaccinated or get tested weekly as the highly contagious delta variant fuels alarming increases in daily cases.

“I want to emphasize that that either-or really creates a positive pressure for vaccination because it will be the responsibility of the employee to get tested on a regular basis, and that comes with its own challenges,” de Blasio said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

Officials in California announced a similar mandate for state employees.

Unions representing some New York City employees pushed back on Monday’s announcement that their members would have to either provide proof of vaccination or get tested weekly.

“The city and the mayor cannot simply disregard the civil liberties of the workforce,” FDNY EMS Local 2507 President Oren Barzilay said.

De Blasio said the city has a right to impose the new rule, which should motivate employees to schedule their shots.

“Just get vaccinated,” de Blasio said Tuesday. “Get it done, be safe, help your colleagues be safe, don’t have to go through the hassle of weekly testing.”

Unvaccinated workers will have until Sept. 13 to complete their vaccine series or opt for a virus test each week. But before that deadline kicks in, the mayor said unvaccinated workers must wear a mask at work starting Aug. 2.