{"id":45515,"date":"2021-07-29T01:57:00","date_gmt":"2021-07-29T07:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/why-and-where-masks-are-again-advised-for-indoors\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:25:40","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:25:40","slug":"why-and-where-masks-are-again-advised-for-indoors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/why-and-where-masks-are-again-advised-for-indoors\/","title":{"rendered":"Why (and where) masks are again advised for indoors"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

NEW YORK (AP) \u2013 Wait, we\u2019re supposed to wear masks again? Even if we are vaccinated?<\/p>\n

For a large part of the U.S., that\u2019s the latest advice from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC this week revisited and revised its guidance for wearing masks indoors to stop the spread of coronavirus.<\/p>\n

The change comes two months after the agency eased its mask advice, declaring that fully vaccinated people no longer had to cover up at indoor public places. Since then, the agency also said vaccinated adults and teens no longer needed to wear them at summer camps and schools.<\/p>\n

A look at the latest developments:<\/p>\n

WHAT CHANGED?<\/div>\n

CDC officials announced that people who are fully vaccinated<\/a> should resume wearing masks indoors if they live in areas where the virus is surging \u2013 which is most of the country, or more than 60% of U.S. counties. Masks generally aren\u2019t needed outdoors.<\/p>\n

The agency also said everyone \u2013 teachers and students \u2013 should go back to wearing masks in schools, whether the virus is surging in your community or not.<\/p>\n

The CDC wasn\u2019t the first to call for the return of masks. In recent weeks, a number of cities and towns in hot spots have brought back indoor mask rules. The list includes municipalities ranging in size from Los Angeles to Provincetown, Massachusetts. More places, as well as businesses, took steps to join the list after Tuesday\u2019s CDC announcement, including Kansas City and the state of Nevada.<\/p>\n

WHERE ARE THE HOT SPOTS?<\/div>\n

The new guidance is for areas with substantial or high virus spread, as shown on a CDC map. That means at least 50 new cases per 100,000 people in the last week.<\/p>\n

New case rates are particularly high in the South and Southwest, according to the CDC tracker. In Arkansas, Louisiana and Florida, every county exceeds the CDC benchmark. And rates are high in all but a few counties in Alabama, Mississippi and Missouri.<\/p>\n

WHAT ABOUT COLORADO?<\/div>\n

Many of the counties in Colorado have a high enough transmission rate to fall under the new CDC guidance. Transmission rates in Dolores and La Plata counties did not fall under the CDC guidance to wear a mask indoors.<\/p>\n

Residents in Montezuma County were advised to wear a mask indoors, as were:<\/p>\n

Adams, Alamosa, Archuleta, Bent, Chaffee, Cheyenne, Clear Creek, Conejos, Delta, Douglas, Eagle, El Paso, Garfield, Grand, Hinsdale, Huerfano, Lake, Larimer, Las Animas, Lincoln, Mesa, Mineral, Moffat, Montezuma, Montrose, Ouray, Park, Pitkin, Pueblo, Rio Blanco, Rio Grande, Routt, Saguache, San Miguel, Summit, Teller, Washington and Weld.<\/p>\n

The Boston Globe published a map that allows viewers to see where the CDC recommendations apply throughout the United States.<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>

WHY THE CHANGE?<\/div>\n

It\u2019s all because of the highly contagious delta version of the virus, the CDC said. That variant is driving surges of COVID-19 in much of the country and now accounts for more than 80% of infections. CDC officials said new information about its spread forced them to reverse course.<\/p>\n

The vast majority of new infections in the U.S. continue to be among unvaccinated people. Rarely, some vaccinated people do end up getting infected as well, although the vaccine cushions the blow and generally protects them from severe illness.<\/p>\n

Previously, vaccinated people with \u201cbreakthrough infections\u201d had low levels of virus and were unlikely to spread the virus much, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said. But new data shows that isn\u2019t the case with the delta variant. Vaccinated people \u201chave the potential to spread that virus to others,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

WHAT DIDN\u2019T CHANGE?<\/div>\n

The guidance for anyone who hadn\u2019t gotten a COVID-19 vaccine stays the same: Masks are recommended indoors, pretty much everywhere.<\/p>\n

Everyone \u2013 regardless of vaccination or location \u2013 should wear a mask while at airports or train stations, or while riding buses, trains or other public transportation.<\/p>\n

Hospitals, stores and businesses may require masks, too.<\/p>\n

The CDC did not explicitly change its guidance for summer camps, mostly because the season is ending and schools are opening soon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Several counties in the Four Corners qualify for the guidance<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":45516,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-45515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45515","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45515"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45515\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86526,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45515\/revisions\/86526"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45515"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=45515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}