Montco Says Masks Needed To Stop Unique Threat Of Delta Variant

NORRISTOWN, PA — In a news briefing explaining new guidance that all residents wear masks indoors in public, Montgomery County officials said that the delta variant posed a unique threat that required new strategies to suppress it.

Up to one thousand times more of the virus is produced in the nose than with earlier variants. And while the vast majority of the new cases in Montgomery County are occurring among unvaccinated individuals, the vaccinated individuals who do get the delta variant are likely to be contagious.

"This is the big difference: in the spring, if people were infected with one of those earlier variants, they were not contagious," Montgomery County Commissioner Val Arkoosh said. "But now, if a vaccinated person is infected with the delta variant, it's quite possible that they will produce enough virus, even if they don't feel sick, that they could be contagious to others."

The county announced the shift in guidance, which corresponds with the CDC's recommendation, last Friday. Though masks are now required in all county buildings, it remains just a recommendation, not a requirement, for the general public.

The announcement brought criticism from Republicans who said the virus was continuing to be politicized.

"Once again, the Democrat Commissioners and unelected public health bureaucrats in Montgomery County are putting political theater ahead of common sense," Commissioner Joe Gale said, calling the guidance "nanny-state tyranny." "It’s clear these officials are flying by the seat of their pants by forcing employees and residents to adhere to their ever-changing whims."

Montgomery's guidance falls short of what neighboring Philadelphia has done: mandating masks in all businesses and public spaces, regardless of vaccination status. Other neighboring communities, like Bucks County, has not yet recommended masking in its buildings.

All of Montgomery County's key coronavirus metrics have continued to rise, as the county has remained in the CDC's "substantial" transmission category for two weeks now. The county's positivity rate is now at 4.3 percent, after dropping to 0.5 percent just a little over a month ago.

Case rises have been across the board in the county's municipalities, and early data suggests that many of Montco's cases are amongst younger people, including those who are not yet eligible for the vaccine. However, the county has no plans to make further changes to its current school policies, or to issue any countywide mandates for schools. Individual districts are working the county on creating individual health and safety policies, and making decisions on masking at the local level.