The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is now recommending that fully vaccinated people put their masks back on when indoors in public, at least in the areas of the country where COVID-19 is spreading fastest. The new guidance comes in the wake of a rise in COVID-19 cases due to the Delta variant, which behaves differently according to CDC Director Rochelle (Ruh-shell) Walensky. Walensky said that vaccinated people “may be contagious and [could] spread the virus to others.”
But the CDC isn’t recommending that everyone mask up again. The agency’s new guidance is limited to places where COVID-19 transmission is deemed “substantial” or “high,” meaning that there are either more than 50 cases per 100,000 people in the area over a seven-day period, or that the COVID-19 test positivity rate is higher than 5%.
According to the map on the CDC’s website, San Bernardino County is considered to have a substantial transmission rate, while Riverside County has a high transmission rate.
While the vaccination helps protect people from heading to the hospital, or eventually dying from the disease, it is not a perfect shield against COVID-19. Vaccinated people can get sick, and prolong the pandemic too, by spreading their virus. You can view the CDC’s map of COVID-19 transmission rates by county at the link below.
