Delta restores U.S. masks

The health agency also advised all students, teachers and staff in gardens and schools to wear masks, regardless of vaccination status.

The announcement presents a change of policy adopted in May, when millions of vaccinated Americans removed facial masks in addition to public transportation and hospitals.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said updated mask instructions apply only to sections with significant and high “levels of coronavirus transmission, in order to curb the spread of Delta variant and protect the unexplored.

Centres for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochell Walensky said the new recommendation is based on concerns from variant Delta.

As the efficiency of vaccines remains high against Delta variant, new “data shows that, in rare cases, some people vaccinated may be contagious and spread the virus to others”, Walensky said.

Recent studies have shown that the viral amount of people infected with the Delta version is much larger than in people infected in the first wave of coronavirus, which makes the virus more transmitted.

The United States is registering a seven-day average of 57,000 cases of the infected. The figure represents about a quarter of infections from the January peak, but is almost five times the level of early July.

About 49 percent of the American population is completely vaccinated, and almost all deaths and hospitalizations are among the people who are not affected.

US President Joe Biden said his administration is considering whether it will require US federal employees to be vaccinated against the coronavirus.

Federal employees may be asked to show evidence that they were vaccinated against the coronavrus otherwise subject to regular testing and wear masks.

In 2020 there were more than 4.2 million federal workers throughout the United States, including those in the military.

In recent weeks, various state and local governments, private companies, hospital managers and universities across the United States have restored the obligation for masks in domestic environments and issued orders for vaccine.

New York's Metropolitan Opera announced on July 27th that it will require that audiences and performers be fully vaccinated for its upcoming season, while the Washington Post said all its employees will be asked to present evidence of full vaccine by mid-September.

According to Johns Hopkins University, following data on pandemics, coronavirus has affected over 195 million people worldwide. Of them, over four million have died.

The United States is the most affected country in the world, with over 34 million infected and over 61,000 victims. /Rel/