Mask mandates should not be reduced despite decreasing numbers of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths, according to the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Appearing Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press," Director Rochelle Walensky was asked if masks remained a key mitigation factor for coronavirus.
"Absolutely," Walensky said. "We are still at about 100,000 cases a day. We are still at around 1,500 to 3,500 deaths per day. The cases are more than 2½-fold times what we saw over the summer."
The U.S. reported 101,030 new COVID-19 cases Friday, per Politico. That total compared to 218,020 new cases a month earlier, according to the COVID Tracking Project.
With the number of cases being reduced and vaccinations occurring nationwide, some states have begun to roll back mask mandates and other mitigation measures. Walensky said officials needed to look at the statistics in relative terms.
"It's encouraging to see these trends coming down, but they're coming down from an extraordinarily high place," she said.
Walensky also was asked about new coronavirus variants being discovered and whether they could cause an increase in cases and fatalities.
"We can't let our guard down," Walensky said. "We have to continue wearing masks. We have to continue with our current mitigation measures. And we have to continue getting vaccinated as soon as that vaccine is available to us."
Walensky was asked on Fox News if current mask recommendations would be needed by the end of 2021.
"I think that very much depends on how we behave right now," she said.
The CDC on Friday released updated guidance, emphasizing physical distancing and mask wearing, for reopening schools.
During his first days in office, President Joe Biden issued an executive order mandating masks on federal property.
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