The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced a new framework on February 25 providing that mask wearing is optional in low- and moderate-risk settings.
The CDC’s new mask guidance classifies counties as either high, medium, or low risk based on three criteria: (1) current COVID-19 hospitalization rates; (2) local hospital capacity; and (3) new COVID-19 case rates. The CDC recommends that individuals in high-risk areas continue to wear masks regardless of their vaccination status.
This new approach will result in substantially fewer jurisdictions where masking is recommended. Indeed, the CDC estimates that under the new guidance, 23% of counties are currently deemed low risk, 39.6% of counties are medium risk, and only 37.3% are high risk and therefore subject to the universal indoor mask recommendation. To determine the risk level for a specific jurisdiction, CDC created a data-based matrix that looks at the COVID-19 community level of new hospital admissions, inpatient bed metrics, and new cases per 100,000 population in the Last seven days. Individuals and organizations can look up the current risk classification for their county.
The CDC explained that this shift is due to the greatly reduced risk of significant disease, hospitalization, and death from COVID-19 based on increasing treatments and high levels of vaccination and population immunity from prior infections. It is a significant change from CDC’s prior guidance, which at one time classified 95% of counties in the United States as high risk and recommended that everyone in these counties wear masks while indoors.
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CDC Masking Recommendations as of February 25, 2022
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Low-Risk Locations
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Medium-Risk Locations
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High-Risk Locations
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ANALYSIS
CDC guidances are recommendations and are not legally binding on their own. However, they do provide a helpful benchmark that businesses can look to when crafting policies, and they are frequently incorporated into guidance from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) as well as state and local jurisdictions.
The CDC’s new guidance on mask wearing reflects a broad trend of numerous jurisdictions dropping COVID-19 requirements and recommendations as the acute phase of the omicron outbreak continues to recede. Some of the jurisdictions with mask requirements in place (e.g., Santa Clara County (California), Atlanta, and Hawaii) may soon drop those rules in light of the CDC’s new guidance and/or declining case rates and hospitalizations. However, many locations do still generally recommend mask wearing, and businesses should also monitor local requirements in their jurisdictions as well as any new guidance from OSHA on this topic when evaluating their mask policies.
Businesses that decide to remove mask requirements should still consider what other safety measures are appropriate for their workspace (such as self-screening, social distancing when feasible, vaccine and/or testing mandates, continued cleaning and disinfecting of shared spaces, and masking in certain scenarios) and should continue to monitor the CDC risk classification for their locations. Additionally, as the CDC recommends mask wearing for those who develop COVID-19 symptoms, test positive, or are exposed, businesses should consider how to handle these specific situations for their workforce.
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