In the US, masks are given up indoors. Is this a mistake?
A significant change in the way the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention assesses the morbidity situation in the U.S. effectively removes the obligation to wear masks for the majority of the public. Is this a turning point in the global epidemic?
Walla!
health
27/02/2022
Sunday, 27 February 2022, 10:41 Updated: 11:17
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Most U.S. citizens live in countries where if their health is good, there is no need to wear masks indoors, says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in updated guidelines released over the weekend.
According to the measurement method that estimates the morbidity of corona in the various states in the US, it seems that more than 70 percent of the country's population lives in countries where, according to the CDC, one of the most significant signs of the plague can be waived - wearing masks.
The change in the recommendation is a result of a change in the measurement method - so far the center's recommendations have been based on the level of morbidity only (the rate of infection and the number of patients).
Now, the CDC is adapting the recommendations to a slightly different index, known as the "community index."
This index looks at new hospitalization cases of Corona patients, the number of available beds in nearby hospitals and new cases of infection.
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To the full article
Under the updated guidelines according to the Community Index, it appears that more than seventy percent of Americans live in communities where the morbidity burden is low-medium.
For these areas the CDC recommends wearing a mask in enclosed spaces only for people who are at risk and more vulnerable to corona for any reason.
Everything else is exempt.
No longer need?
People with masks in the mall (Photo: Shlomi Gabay)
"We're in a better place today than we were six months ago, six weeks or even six days," Javier Basra, the U.S. secretary of health and social services, told CNN.
"It is now more appropriate to focus on the severity of the cases, and not just the number verified for Covid. Thanks to the hard work we have done and the new tools we have developed to deal with the corona plague, we can now ease the guidelines for masks - not everyone has to wear a mask," he said.
In any case, and regardless of the disease state or regional community load, the CDC recommends that everyone get vaccinated against corona and receive the booster doses on time as well as be tested for corona if they feel symptoms.
In areas where the morbidity load is high, the CDC recommends continuing to wear masks in enclosed public places, including schools.
Embryos focus on the severity of the illness, rather than the number of verified ones.
Woman undergoing corona examination in California, USA (Photo: Reuters)
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Coming soon to Israel?
And what about Israel?
Are we likely to see a change in the method of measurement here as well or a simplification in the guidelines for wearing a mask?
Dr. Oren Koibler, a virologist at Tel Aviv University, believes that not so fast: "The CDC decided to change the criteria for enforcing masks in the US according to the congestion in hospitals instead of the level of morbidity in the community due to the impending decline of the omicron wave. ".
According to Dr. Koebler, this decision is incorrect at this stage for two reasons. High in the United States and the use of masks is an effective way and does not dramatically make it difficult for the economy to lower morbidity.
In each case, they have seized it, despite obstacles we can scarcely imagine. "
It is important to note that a change in the CDC's measurement method and the shift from an index that focuses on new verified to an index that looks more specifically at the severity of morbidity and burden on hospitals has greater significance than just wearing a mask.
Many experts mark the change in policy as a milestone in the fight against the global epidemic on the way to turning it from a pandemic into an endemic.
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