CNN —
The caput of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urges counties with precocious Covid-19 assemblage levels to promote radical to disguise up successful nationalist indoor settings.
US counties with precocious Covid-19 assemblage levels should promote radical to enactment their masks backmost connected portion indoors and radical successful areas with mean levels should see masking based connected their ain Covid-19 risk, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said successful a White House briefing Wednesday.
That impacts astir a 3rd of radical successful the United States.
More than 32% of radical nationwide unrecorded successful areas with mean oregon precocious Covid-19 assemblage levels, Walensky said. That breaks down to 9% surviving successful areas with precocious Covid-19 assemblage levels and 23% surviving successful mean areas.
For areas presently with precocious Covid-19 assemblage levels, “we impulse section leaders to promote the usage of prevention strategies similar masking successful nationalist indoor settings and expanding entree to investigating and to treatment,” Walensky said.
“In areas wherever assemblage levels are high, everyone should beryllium utilizing prevention measures and wearing a disguise successful nationalist indoor settings,” she said.
In areas with mean levels, Walensky said “individuals should see taking prevention measures based connected their ain risk, similar avoiding crowds, wearing a mask, expanding their testing, particularly earlier gathering with others indoors.”
In immoderate Covid-19 assemblage level, Walensky said that radical “may ever take to deterioration a disguise to support themselves from infection.”
As of Wednesday, astir 4.25% of US counties person precocious Covid-19 assemblage levels, according to CDC data.
“As we’re presently seeing a dependable emergence of cases successful parts of the country, we promote everyone to usage the paper of tools we person contiguous to forestall further corruption and terrible disease, including wearing a mask, getting tested, accessing treatments aboriginal if infected and getting vaccinated oregon boosted, particularly if you’re implicit 50 and if your past dose was much than 5 months ago,” Walensky said.
While cases are not peaking, Walensky warned of an upward inclination successful cases and hospitalizations.
“While cases stay overmuch little than during the Omicron surge this past winter, the existent seven-day regular mean of cases is present astatine astir 94,000 cases per day, which is an summation nationally astir 26% implicit the erstwhile week, and a three-fold summation implicit the past month,” Walensky said.
“Similarly, infirmary admissions are besides expanding but stay overmuch little than they were during the Omicron surge. The seven-day mean of infirmary admissions present is astir 3,000 per time and that’s an summation of astir 19% implicit the erstwhile week,” she added. “While deaths bash stay low, we are inactive seeing a tragic seven-day mean of regular deaths astatine astir 275 per day.”
Many counties successful the northeast portion of the state presently person precocious Covid-19 assemblage levels, and astir 40% of radical successful the northeast are successful counties considered to person precocious assemblage levels.
“The highest levels are presently passim the authorities of New York and Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Jersey,” Lori Tremmel Freeman, main enforcement serviceman of the National Association of County and City Health Officials, told CNN connected Wednesday.
Freeman pointed to the fast-spreading Omicron subvariants, BA.2 and BA.2.12.1, arsenic imaginable drivers of Covid-19 transmission successful those regions and the federation arsenic a whole.
About fractional – 50.9% – of Covid-19 cases successful the US are caused by BA.2 and astir the different fractional – 47.5% – are caused by BA.2.12.1, according to CDC data.
“BA.2.12.1 is 25% much contagious than BA.2, which we cognize is precise contagious,” Freeman said. “So, they expect that that variant volition beryllium ascendant shortly.”