Reintroduction Of Masks, Mandates Could Be Coming As America Enters ‘Dangerous’ Fall Season

Americans could see a tightening of COVID restrictions, including the reintroduction of face masks, this fall as cases of the virus are expected to surge as a result of the spreading Delta variant that has become dominant in the U.S.

The surging Delta variant now makes up 51.7% of cases of COVID-19, primarily in places where vaccination rates are lower, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed.

States such as Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska reported that 80.7% of new COVID-19 cases were comprised of the Delta variant, which has now been detected in all 50 states, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, as reported by ABC News.

Lawrence Gostin, director of the World Health Organization’s Collaborating Center on National and Global Health Law, warned that mandates could be coming in some parts of the U.S. as cases of COVID-19 continue to rise.

He said, according to CNBC, “I could foresee that in certain parts of the country, there could be a reintroduction of indoor mask mandates, distancing and occupancy limits.

“We are heading for a very dangerous fall, with large swaths of the country still unvaccinated, a surging delta variant, and people taking off their masks,” he added.

The news of the possible reintroduction of coronavirus mandates comes as the CDC announced in mid-May that people that had been vaccinated no longer needed to wear face masks when indoors.

States across the U.S. have rolled back their COVID mandates as a result as Americans celebrated the July 4 holiday weekend. Employers are also pushing for workers to return to the office in the coming days, if they haven’t already, as the COVID vaccine has rolled out to over 158.2 million people, according to data from the CDC.

The Delta variant, which was first identified in India, is said to be more transmissible and can cause more hospitalizations, despite COVID deaths dropping from a peak of 3,400 a day in January to an average of 225 a day, CNBC said.

Coronavirus infections have also dropped to an average of about 15,000 new cases a day from about 251,000 at the peak of the COVID crisis in January, according to the news outlet.

But those numbers are anticipated to rise, causing health officials to make the difficult decision to reimplement public health measures that include mask, social distancing, and capacity limits. It could also mean that workers return home again, as they expect the virus to circulate for two to three more years, CNBC said.