Friday’s change in guidelines by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicated that fewer communities needed coronavirus restrictions, such as social distancing and masks. The change came in tandem with the removal of such protections by many states.
Public health experts worry that the Omicron wave is being mistakenly equated with the end the pandemic.
“Things are improving, but we still aren’t at a point where we’re getting out in front of this,” said Dr. Lynn R. Goldman, dean of the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University.
Dr. Goldman stated that the new C.D.C. guidance was comparable to an “off ramp” from the pandemic, even though new variants could still emerge and the country’s health system, and public, is not equipped for another surge in cases.
According to the New York Times database, the daily average number coronavirus cases has fallen by 63 percent and the number of hospitalizations in the United States has dropped 44 percent over the past fourteen days. This continues a downward trend of decreasing coronavirus numbers nationwide. The daily average number of deaths is still roughly 1,900 — a 23 percent drop over the past two weeks — but that is expected to fall further soon because of the lag between hospitalization and death rates.
The C.D.C. The C.D.C. guidelines require counties to use case rates to calculate community risk, but also include hospitalization numbers. This change means that 70% of Americans could stop wearing masks and social distancing, or avoid crowded indoor spaces.
Many experts agreed that the C.D.C. was appropriate. While experts agree that the C.D.C. guidelines are appropriate, many are concerned that they do not account enough for the unknowns surrounding the pandemic.
Dr. Gerald E. Harmon, the president of the American Medical Association, said in a statement in response to the new recommendations that he would continue to wear a mask “in most indoor public settings,” and he urged all Americans to do the same. “We must remain adaptable and vigilant in confronting this unpredictable virus,” Dr. Harmon said.
The C.D.C. The guidance was issued after several states, including New York and Connecticut, attempted to phase out or end mask mandates.
In Colorado, Gov. Jared Polis said on Friday that the state would end its coronavirus emergency response and that residents had “earned the right to move beyond the pandemic in your lives.”
“There is no claiming victory with regards to the virus,” Mr. Polis said. “The virus is here and will likely be here for the rest of our lives. But it is time to acknowledge that we have reached a point in Colorado where Coloradans who are fully vaccinated can freely live without undue fear.”
On Friday, Gov. Gavin Newsom from California lifted 19 executive orders related to the pandemic, and said another 18 would come off March 31, although it remains in effect.
Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the C.D.C.’s director, was asked in a call with reporters on Friday about the timing of the new guidance and how it related to decisions by states to drop restrictions.
She said that the agency had been planning to shift the metric to hospitalizations for some time and that many state policies “will coincide with exactly what we are recommending.”
Dr. Esther Choo is an emergency medicine physician at Oregon Health and Science University. said on Twitter that making hospitalizations the sole metric “means allowing a high burden of disease & having a delayed response that is slow to have impact on hospitalizations and death.”
Dr. Goldman of the Milken Institute shared the same concern. He said that the current lull of infections should be used to prepare. This includes ensuring that people have surgical masks rather than the less effective cloth masks, and improving testing resources in the communities.
“The desire to walk away from this cannot just be that we are going to forget about it and fail to prepare for the next one,” Dr. Goldman said.
Source: NY Times
