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Health officials in US reconsidering mask mandate due to spike in Delta variant cases

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With the highly transmissible Delta variant accounting for more than a quarter of new coronavirus cases in the United States, health officials are reconsidering the public mask mandate.

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Delta variant, which is more contagious and aggressive than others, reached nearly every state and accounted for 26.1% of all confirmed cases (CDC).

“I’m concerned about the Delta variant,” Xinhua news agency quoted the country’s Surgeon General Vivek Murthy as saying on Wednesday.

“And I am worried that what we are seeing in terms of a plateauing of cases nationally but also an increase in cases in many small sections of the US, that that is, in fact, being driven by the Delta variant.”

There is still a lot of virus circulating in the United States, and close to 300 people die every day from the coronavirus, Murthy said in an interview with CNN, citing recent data.

Coronavirus outbreaks are “entirely avoidable, entirely preventable” with vaccination, according to White House Chief Medical Advisor Anthony Fauci.

Experts warn that areas with low vaccination rates are especially vulnerable to the Delta variant.

The spread of the highly contagious Delta variant has prompted new lockdowns around the world, as well as new public health warnings.

The World Health Organization has encouraged fully vaccinated people to continue wearing masks, citing the rise of Delta.

The rapid spread of Delta in Los Angeles County has prompted officials to reinstate mask guidance for public indoor spaces – regardless of vaccination status.

On Tuesday, public health officials in Los Angeles County strongly advised residents to wear masks indoors in public places such as shopping malls  “grocery or retail stores, theatres and family entertainment centres, and workplaces when you don’t know everyone’s vaccination status”.

According to CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, the Delta variant is expected to become the dominant coronavirus strain in the United States.

Experts and government officials are concerned that coronavirus variants, particularly the highly transmissible Delta variant, will continue to increase the number of new cases.

With half of the US population still unvaccinated, experts fear a resurgence of Covid-19 in the fall.

About the author

Brendan Byrne

While studying economics, Brendan found himself comfortably falling down the rabbit hole of restaurant work, ultimately opening a consulting business and working as a private wine buyer. On a whim, he moved to China, and in his first week following a triumphant pub quiz victory, he found himself bleeding on the floor based on his arrogance. The same man who put him there offered him a job lecturing for the University of Wales in various sister universities throughout the Middle Kingdom. While primarily lecturing in descriptive and comparative statistics, Brendan simultaneously earned an Msc in Banking and International Finance from the University of Wales-Bangor. He's presently doing something he hates, respecting French people. Well, two, his wife and her mother in the lovely town of Antigua, Guatemala.







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