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Three months after the country’s top public health agency, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, abruptly stopped holding regular briefings on the coronavirus pandemic, its director, Dr. Robert Redfield, restarted them on Friday amid growing calls for the agency to claim a more prominent role in the virus response. The C.D.C. also released a new guidance document, “Considerations for Events and Gatherings,” that defines as “highest risk” large gatherings where it is difficult for people to stay at least six feet apart, and where attendees travel from outside the local area. (Goodnough, 6/12)

As partisan interests sew symbolism and controversy into masks, scientists are trying to provide answers about how effectively those masks prevent transmission of the coronavirus, and what role they should play in efforts to limit the pathogen’s spread.(Guarino, Janes and Cha, 6/13)

The CDC also listed questions that people should ask themselves when deciding to go somewhere, such as whether they are high-risk or live with someone at high risk, and if the virus is spreading within their community. The new recommendations are meant to supplement, rather than replace, guidance from state and local health officials, the CDC says. “I know people are eager to return to normal activities and ways of life,” CDC Director Robert Redfield told reporters on a conference call. “However, it’s important that we remember that the situation is unprecedented and that the pandemic has not ended.” (Abbott and McKay, 6/12)

Requiring the wearing of masks to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus in areas at the epicenter of the global pandemic may have prevented tens of thousands of infections, a new study suggests. Mask-wearing is even more important for preventing the virus’ spread and the sometimes deadly COVID-19 illness it causes than social distancing and stay-at-home orders, researchers said, in the study published in PNAS: The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA. (Lapid, 6/12)

Evidence is mounting that widespread mask-wearing can significantly slow the spread of coronavirus and help reduce the need for future lockdowns. Public health authorities did not initially put an emphasis on masks, but that's changed and there is now increasing consensus that they play an important role in hindering transmission of the virus at a time when wearing one has become politicized as some states and businesses have made them a requirement for certain activities. (Sullivan, 6/13)