| In parts of the country where the Delta variant is fueling a surge of COVID-19 cases, including in parts of Massachusetts, even people who are fully vaccinated against the virus should go back to wearing a mask when in public indoor spaces, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control said Tuesday.
The CDC is now recommending that everyone “wear a mask indoors in public if you are in an area of substantial or high transmission,” a designation that included 63.45 percent of U.S. counties as of Tuesday afternoon. In Massachusetts, Barnstable County is the only area of high transmission and Bristol, Dukes, Nantucket and Suffolk counties are considered areas of substantial transmission.
The updated federal guidance marks a reversal from May, when the CDC eased mask-wearing guidance for the fully vaccinated and President Joe Biden declared it a “great day for America.” Since then, the more transmissible Delta variant of COVID-19 has propelled an increase in case counts and hospitalizations in Massachusetts and across the country.
When the CDC said on May 13 that fully vaccinated people could take off their masks, Massachusetts was averaging about 546 new cases of COVID-19 each day and the number was falling rapidly. By the end of June, the state was averaging just 64 daily new cases. On Tuesday, the Mass. Department of Public Health reported 657 new cases and said the average now stands at about 400 daily new cases.
