Keep wearing masks.....

Experts beg Americans to keep wearing masks despite relaxed guidelines

"We're at a fork in the road," says CDC head.

Joshua Sargent

As governors across the country lift COVID restrictions for a population weary of pandemic precautions, experts continue to express concern that the moves are coming too soon.

“We are at a critical point in this pandemic, a fork in the road,” said Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Director Rochelle Walensky. “I am worried that if we don’t take the right actions now we will have another avoidable surge just as we are seeing in Europe right now, and just as we are scaling up vaccination.”

Despite increased rollout of COVID vaccinations, the number of daily new infections is rising across the Northeast and Upper Midwest. The CDC reports an average of 1,025 deaths per day in its weekly data tracker review.

The danger comes down to a race between vaccines, which will create herd immunity, and the variants, which could prove resilient to precautions. By wearing masks, preferably N95 respirators (even after receiving the vaccination), you can help prevent the spread and mutation of the virus.

The CDC’s mask guidelines have not changed significantly in months. However, the precautions do require widespread adherence and caution. If too many people abandon mask wearing and social distancing, the general population will suffer the consequences.

“We have a hard time learning the lessons of even a few months ago,” Kaiser Family Foundation associate director for global health policy Josh Michaud told The Hill. "Our experience in this country, in so many countries, has been that if [things are opened up] too early and too liberally, then you just open up the potential for more cases.”