The CDC has loosened its Covid guidelines, enabling most individuals to remove masks if hospitalizations continue to decline.

• Under the new CDC guidelines, more than 70% of Americans no longer need to wear masks in their communities.
• The risk of severe disease is now generally lower due to widespread population immunity, according to Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
• The CDC has changed its approach to recommending masks, now taking into account hospitalizations in addition to infections.
• The number of hospitalizations due to Covid-19 in the U.S. has decreased significantly, from over 159,000 patients on January 20th to approximately 57,500 as of Thursday.

On Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its mask guidelines, permitting most individuals to remove their face masks provided Covid-19 hospitalizations in their area remain low.

According to the new CDC guidance, individuals should wear masks in public indoor areas, such as schools, when there is a high risk of virus circulation that could strain local hospitals. However, over 70% of Americans reside in areas where mask-wearing is no longer recommended under the new CDC guidelines because hospitals are not facing a severe threat from disease.

The CDC's new emphasis on the effects of severe illness on hospitals represents a significant departure from its previous approach of using Covid infection rates to guide public health decisions.

Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, stated that with widespread population immunity, the risk of severe disease is now generally lower. The updated approach is to focus on protecting high-risk individuals and preventing healthcare systems from being overwhelmed.

The CDC's website provides information on whether masks are recommended for each county based on a color-coded system. People living in green counties with low Covid levels do not need to wear masks, while those in yellow counties with medium Covid levels should consult with their doctor. People living in red counties with high Covid levels should wear masks in indoor public places and schools.

According to the CDC's new guidance, masks won't be recommended indoors if the average new cases per 100,000 residents fall below 200, there are fewer than 10 Covid hospital admissions per 100,000 people over the past week, and Covid patients are taking up less than 10% of available hospital beds, based on a seven-day average. However, if cases exceed 200 per 100,000 people, masks would be recommended indoors if new weekly Covid admissions exceed 10 per 100,000 people and patients are taking up 10% or more of hospital beds, based on a seven-day average.

Earlier this month, New York and California removed mask mandates for indoor public spaces due to a decline in infections, sparking speculation about whether the CDC would follow suit with its own guidance.

In July 2021, the CDC made a significant update to its mask guidance due to the delta variant's increasing prevalence in the U.S. The updated recommendation was for individuals to wear masks in indoor public spaces, regardless of vaccination status, in areas with high virus transmission.

Despite the emergence of the more contagious omicron variant in December, which replaced delta as the dominant variant, the guidance from the summer remained in place. However, scientists and public health officials later discovered that omicron generally does not cause as severe illness as delta. As infections surged to unprecedented levels, hospitalizations and deaths did not increase at the same rate.

According to Johns Hopkins University, the U.S. is currently experiencing a 91% decline in new daily cases compared to the pandemic record of over 800,000 cases on January 15, with an average of about 75,000 new cases per day over the past seven days.

The number of hospitalizations in the US due to Covid-19 has decreased significantly, from over 159,000 patients on January 20th to approximately 57,500 as of Thursday, based on a seven-day average of data from the Health and Human Services Department. Additionally, the daily Covid death toll reached its highest level in nearly a year on February 1st, with an average of over 2,600 deaths per day, but has since fallen to about 1,740, according to Hopkins data.

The previous version of this story contained incorrect information about the data used to determine whether people should wear masks in their community. The updated data has been provided.