The CDC is weighing whether to update COVID-19 mask guidance for all Americans, regardless of vaccination status, according to Anthony Fauci, MD, the White House chief medical adviser. This comes as cases rise in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
Dr. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, emphasized the agency's current guidance that fully vaccinated people don't need to wear a mask in most settings has not changed, but that he is part of ongoing discussions on whether to alter the guidance.
"This is under active consideration," Dr. Fauci said during a July 25 CNN interview, adding that the CDC's current recommendations give a lot of discretion to local governments to issue their own rules.
Officials in Los Angeles County and St. Louis for example, where there's been a dramatic surge in infections, have reinstated indoor mask mandates for all residents.
Nationwide, 99.5 percent of COVID-19 related deaths and 97 percent of hospitalizations are among unvaccinated individuals, the White House COVID-19 Response Team said during a July 22 news conference.