MARYLAND — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention loosened federal COVID-19 mask guidance Friday as infection rates return to pre-omicron variant levels around the country.
The bottom line: About 70 percent of Americans will be able to shed their masks while indoors.
The new framework from the CDC categorizes communities by “low,” “medium” or “high” risk as far as COVID-19 levels. The CDC isn’t recommending mask-wearing in the first two categories, except among people who have underlying health conditions that put them at high risk for COVID-19.
Allegany County is the only jurisdiction in Maryland that has "high" COVID-19 community levels, based on the guidance issued Friday. An area with a high level means there is high potential for health care strain and high level of severe illness, according to the CDC.
"This framework moves beyond looking just at cases & test positivity to evaluate factors that reflect severity of disease, including hospitalizations & hospital capacity," CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said Friday.
Levels are determined by the number of hospital beds in use, hospital admissions and total new COVID-19 cases in an area.
The CDC previously gauged the spread of the virus by new coronavirus cases and the COVID-19 positivity rate. It had recommended that people wear masks in areas with substantial or high transmission — roughly about 95 percent of U.S. counties, according to the latest data.
The new guidance issued Friday comes as the virus becomes endemic and officials are focused on preventing serious illness and death from COVID-19 rather than all instances of infection.
"It is important to remember that people may choose to mask at any time. We should all support and encourage efforts that protect those at high risk," Walensky said in a statement. "We all have a responsibility to protect those among us most at risk."
Leaders in Maryland have been lifting mask mandates in recent weeks by jurisdiction as infections decline. The latest announcement came from Prince George's County, where County Executive Angela Alsobrooks said Friday morning she was removing the indoor mask mandate as of Monday, Feb. 28.
In Baltimore City, face coverings will be required inside until Tuesday, March 1. Elsewhere in Maryland, policymakers have already lifted restrictions.
In schools, masking is now only recommended in counties with a high risk of infection , according to the CDC.
The Maryland State Board of Education decided Tuesday to lift its mandate around face coverings in schools. Instead, the decision about masking to prevent the spread of COVID-19 will rest with each local jurisdiction and its respective school board. Lawmakers in Annapolis ratified the decision Friday, leaving decisions about face coverings up to local school boards.
Maryland school districts were already allowed to end mask requirements if they met certain criteria, and Anne Arundel and Howard counties met those and lifted mask orders accordingly.
Here are the latest mask orders from central Maryland:
Some Federal Guidance Shifts
Federal mandates still require people to wear face coverings in certain situations.
Currently, people nationwide must wear masks in public transportation hubs like airports and bus stations as well as while passengers in taxis, airplanes, ride-share vehicles, ships, ferries, trains and subways.
As of Friday, the CDC no longer requires masks on school buses. This includes vans and buses operated by both public and private school systems, as well as early care and child care programs.
The CDC is reviewing its guidance for transit and will decide in the coming weeks whether to make any changes, according to ABC News.
Overall, the CDC is shifting its focus to concentrate on preventing the spread of COVID-19 to minimize the strain on the health care system, Walensky said Thursday.
Hospitalizations are an "important barometer," Walensky said in a White House briefing last week.
"Our hospitals need to be able to take care of people with heart attacks and strokes,” she said. “Our emergency departments can’t be so overwhelmed that patients with emergent issues have to wait in line.”
In Maryland, 459 people are hospitalized with COVID-19, including 89 in the intensive care unit, the Maryland Department of Health reported Friday. That is down from the peak around Jan. 11, when the state had 3,400 coronavirus patients in its hospitals.
In her Thursday night tweets, Walensky said community infection rates will determine when and where extra precautions such as mask wearing and testing should be targeted.
“Moving forward, our approach will advise enhanced prevention efforts in communities with a high volume of severe illness and will also focus on protecting our health care systems from being overwhelmed,” she tweeted.
Daily U.S. COVID-19 infection rates are down to about 82,000 cases nationwide, according to a database kept by The New York Times, and hospitalizations are down about 44 percent. However, about 2,000 people a day still are dying of the virus, The Times reported.
Coronavirus infection rates in Maryland are declining, in line with national trends. The case rate Thursday was 10.35 per 100,000, which is down from 235.17 on Jan. 8, according to state health data.
The omicron variant of the coronavirus is highly contagious, but generally causes less severe COVID-19 illnesses than other variants, data shows, especially among people who are fully vaccinated and boosted. In Maryland, officials say about 4.48 million people are considered fully vaccinated.
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The Associated Press contributed reporting.
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