CDC Updates COVID Mask Guidelines: What It Means In PA

PENNSYLVANIA — The Biden administration is expected to loosen federal COVID-19 mask guidance Friday as infection rates return to pre-omicron variant levels around the country.

In Pennsylvania, the universal mask mandate was lifted on June 28, 2021. Indoor masking remains in place at the county level in many places, including in Philadelphia. It's also still in effect in many schools, although more districts are loosening their protocols every week.

The bottom line of the expected changes: Pennsylvanians, and most Americans will live in areas where federal guidelines say they’re not required to wear masks indoors.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention currently recommends 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 expected new guidance comes as the virus becomes endemic and the Biden administration focuses on preventing serious illness and death from COVID-19 rather than all instances of infection.

CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky tweeted Thursday that the agency is shifting its focus to concentrate on preventing the spread of COVID-19 to minimize the strain on the health care system.

Walensky didn’t say when the announcement would be made, though The Associated Press and other news outlets have cited unnamed sources saying the new recommendations would likely come Friday.

In a White House briefing last week, she said hospital capacity is an “important barometer.”

“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 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 healthcare systems from being overwhelmed,” she tweeted.

The omicron variant of the coronavirus is highly contagious, but generally causes less severe COVID-19 illnesses than other variants, especially among people who are fully vaccinated and boosted, data shows.

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.

Omicron infection rates in Pennsylvania have plummeted in recent weeks, and Pennsylvania's statewide positivity rate dropped 3 points, from 12.7 percent to 9.7 percent, just in the past week.

The Associated Press contributed reporting.