CDC's Easing of Mask Mandate is 'Premature' Says Former Surgeon General

CDC is easing the mask mandate in the US, but one expert says it's too early and very dangerous to do so.

The aforementioned expert is former US Surgeon General Jerome Adams, who worked under the Trump administration. In a report by NBC News, Adams claimed that the CDC's decision to ease up on the mask mandate is premature in the wake of rising cases caused by the COVID Delta variant.

Furthermore, Adams said that he regretted not having campaigned for mask-wearing a lot more with Dr. Anthony Fauci, the current leading infectious disease expert in the US, during the early days of the pandemic. He states that the CDC is repeating the same mistake that the two of them did.

Alas, Adams' claims do have merit. According to a report by Yahoo, there has been a jump in COVID cases due to Delta: a week-high average of 69% (over 26,300) cases. Aside from this, the average death toll has also increased to 26% (211 deaths) as well as hospitalizations (36%, or 2,794 cases).

Adams made his thoughts known on his Twitter account:

Last year Tony Fauci and I famously, prematurely, & wrongly advised against masks. I felt it was the best call at the time, but now regret it.

I’m worried the CDC also made a similarly premature, misinterpreted, yet still harmful call on masking in the face of ⬆️ delta variant.
— Jerome Adams (@JeromeAdamsMD) July 17, 2021

These claims come after the CDC recently said that fully vaccinated individuals don't need to wear masks or physically distance themselves anymore. They made this pronouncement after it's been confirmed that about a third of the US population is now fully vaccinated.

CDC's Race In Time Against the Delta Variant

The so-called Delta COVID variant, which was first detected in India, is making a lot of headway into the world's vaccination efforts. And that's because it's considered the most contagious out of all mutated COVID-19 strains.

Not only is the Delta variant a lot easier to transmit, it's also far more lethal to people of all ages, writes Forbes. Couple that with the transmission so fickle (it's been reported that simply passing close by a Delta-infected patient will get you infected,) and it's got the world's health experts locked in a race against time.

Finding Answers to Delta

For now, the latest CDC decision should still be accepted because all approved vaccines do offer a good amount of protection from symptomatic (visible symptoms) infection, hospitalization, and death. Plus, there's also news about a certain antibody treatment that could actually neutralize the Delta variant, alongside Lambda (another dangerous mutated COVID strain).

There's also a new anti-COVID X-ray technique being developed, which experts say could help create new medicines by identifying the coronavirus's weak points. The team behind the special X-ray tech is currently working on refining it, and they do hope that it will get used against the pandemic in a short amount of time.

Looking Forward

Since getting herd immunity requires 60-70% of the global population to get fully vaccinated, the pandemic is far from over. There aren't enough vaccinated people in the world right now, so it would still be best to be vigilant and keep yourself protected.