Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
CDC May Update Mask Guidelines As It Urges States To Move Cautiously
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is considering updating its guidelines on the metrics states should use when considering lifting public health measures such as mask mandates, according to four people familiar with the matter. Agency scientists and officials are debating whether to continue to publicly support using transmission data as a marker for whether to ease public health interventions such as masking, particularly in school settings, the people said. CDC staff are weighing whether the agency should use case rates as a metric or whether it should lean more heavily on hospitalization data, particularly information on hospital capacity. (Banco and Cancryn, 2/9)
The White House has been meeting with outside health experts to plan a pandemic exit strategy and a transition to a 鈥渘ew normal,鈥 but the behind-the-scenes effort is crashing into a very public reality: A string of blue-state governors have gotten ahead of President Biden by suddenly abandoning their mask mandates. Two of the administration鈥檚 top doctors 鈥 Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the president鈥檚 chief medical adviser for the pandemic, and Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, both expressed qualified optimism on Wednesday about the direction of the pandemic. (Stolberg, 2/9)
The White House is facing pressure to revise its position on wearing masks, as declining COVID-19 cases and pandemic fatigue among voters leads an increasing number of Democratic states to lift requirements on public masking. Some governors and local health officials are calling for the White House and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to release guidance for an off-ramp for mask usage.聽(Weixel, Chalfant and Parnes, 2/9)
The White House began assembling a pandemic exit strategy for the nation in recent weeks, pulling together health experts and aides to develop what one top official described as a plan "to keep the country moving forward." But the top-level push by the Biden administration was preempted by a chorus of Democratic governors this week eager to pull back restrictions, prompting gentle pushback Wednesday from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the White House. (Haslett and Flaherty, 2/9)
