CDC urges Americans in areas with high COVID levels to wear masks

During the White House COVID-19 briefing Wednesday, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky urged Americans who live in areas with high community levels of COVID to wear masks. She said Americans in areas with medium COVID community levels should consider wearing masks based on their risk factors.

Video Transcript

ROCHELLE WALENSKY: Our COVID-19 Community Levels Framework looks at a set of metrics, including cases, but also hospitalizations and health system capacity. This framework was designed to be predictive, anticipating where we will see further increases in cases and hospitalizations and in deaths, and they're meant to inform communities, local leaders, and individuals on when and what prevention measures should be implemented in their local settings.

Right now, as shown on this map, over 32% of Americans live in an area with a medium or high COVID-19 community level-- counties shown in yellow or orange. Since the prior week, an additional 8% of the US population is living in a county with a medium or high COVID-19 community level. For areas currently with high COVID-19 community levels-- those in orange-- we urge local leaders to encourage the use of prevention strategies like masking at public indoor settings and increasing access to testing and treatment.

For individuals, COVID-19 community levels can also be used to inform personal decisions on how to best protect oneself. In areas where community levels are high, everyone should be using prevention measures and wearing a mask in public indoor settings. In areas with medium COVID-19 community levels in yellow, individuals should consider taking prevention measures based on their own risk, like avoiding crowds, wearing a mask, increasing their testing, especially before gathering with others indoors. And in any COVID-19 community levels, individuals may always choose to wear a mask to protect themselves from infection.