More Americans required to wear a mask regardless if vaccinated or not. ‘We warned you not to throw away your masks,’ official states
States and cities – and as of Thursday, Washington D.C. – are bringing back mask requirements or strong masking recommendations in the wake of the new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines that state vaccinated people should wear masks in indoor public places.
The recent policies that are going into effect follow a handful of jurisdictions that quickly required near-universal masking after Tuesday’s announcement. And they also come as some other states and cities decline adopting the CDC’s new guidelines in a break from how these areas managed the pandemic formerly.
“Given the trends in cases that we see that we want to get ahead of it and nip it in the bud as best we can – and we know that masks can be very effective in doing that – so beginning this Saturday at 5 a.m. I will issue by mayor’s order the directive that people over the age of 2 must wear a mask indoors regardless of their vaccination status,” D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said.
“I know that D.C. residents have very closely following the public health guidelines and they will embrace this. Our businesses will embrace it,” Bowser added.
Bowser later said that she expects forcing masks back on people should not be an issue for D.C. because D.C. residents never stopped wearing masks. And she still suggested people to come to work in person at offices, just in person. Department of Health LaQuandra Nesbitt, meanwhile, suggested people to wear masks at private gatherings in homes when there are both vaccinated and unvaccinated people.
Another major American city, Atlanta, also declared a mask requirement Wednesday.
“Public health experts overwhelmingly agree, and data has proved, that wearing a face covering helps slow the spread of this deadly virus,” Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said Wednesday evening. “As COVID-19 rates increase, we must remain vigilant, wear a mask, follow CDC guidelines and other measures to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our communities.”
Atlanta’s new executive order demands universal masking regardless of vaccination status “at all times when indoors” in a public space. Violating the executive order from Bottomswill lead to a $25 fine for a first offense and $50 fine for any repeat offenses.
New Mexico officials also said that citizens there are demanded to follow the CDC guidelines. A June 30th order from the state says that New Mexicans “must follow” CDC guidance whenever it changes, even if people have the vaccine.
Several states also followed Atlanta’s and New Mexico’s suit in embracing the CDC guidelines, thought without attaching legal requirements – just strong recommendations. Such recommendations in recent weeks have often been precursors to full mandates. Among those states were California and New Jersey.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said that he is proud of how low his state’s coronavirus numbers are now. But if they dtart to grow, he warned, “we reserve the right to take more drastic action, including a statewide mask mandate.”
Illinois and Oregon are among other states that embraced the CDC’s mask guidelines right after it was declared the new guidelines. Kansas City, Missouri and a few other counties and cities, meanwhile, issued mask requirements.
These new mandates come despite the fact that coronavirus vaccines greatly reduce the risk of serious illness, hospitalization and death from COVID-19 in all its variant forms. The vaccines also help from contracting and transmitting the virus.
CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said the reason the new its guidelines was an increased presence of the virus in the nose and throat of people who have the vaccine and are infected with the delta variant, compared to other breakthrough infections. But the CDC says it won’t release the data it used to make its new guidelines until Friday.
There are other places, however, that are declining new regulations. Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said they do not plan to bring back mask requirements. And in New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and his top officials say they are waiting on the data from the CDC.
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, meanwhile, is not even thinking of bringing back a mask requirements in Maryland.