Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Rochelle Walensky Director blamed Tuesday unvaccinated Americans, not the CDC, for reinstating mask guidance.
The reversed mask guidance “could have been avoided” if more Americans had become vaccinated, a Voice of America reporter tweeted the Director said.
“We still largely are in a pandemic of the unvaccinated,” she continued after noting the majority of transmissions occurring in the United States is “with unvaccinated individuals.”
“This pandemic continues to pose a serious threat to the health of all Americans,” Walensky explained.
Walensky’s comments come as the coronavirus death rate is near the lowest it has been since the beginning of the pandemic, following the CDC lifting of coronavirus restrictions in May.
“It’s a dynamic situation. It’s a work in progress, it evolves like in so many other areas of the pandemic,” Dr. Anthony Fauci explained Sunday. “You’ve got to look at the data.”
The News York Times first reported that “Federal officials met on Sunday night to review new evidence that may have prompted the reversal” and that “the new guidance would mark a sharp turnabout from the agency’s position since May that vaccinated people do not need to wear masks in most indoor spaces.”
When the White House was asked by a Fox News reporter Tuesday as to why vaccinated individuals must wear masks, press secretary Jen Psaki said the recommendations were due to the “transmissibility of the virus.”
“Because the public health leaders in our administration have made the determination, based on data, that that is a way to make sure they’re protected, their loved ones are protected,” she said. “That’s an extra step given the transmissibility of the virus.”