The Biden administration and top White House officials are considering whether they should call for fully vaccinated Americans to wear face masks as the delta variant of the coronavirus surges across the country, The Washington Post reports.
Will the White House call for masks again?
Six unnamed officials told The Washington Post that there are debates going on now about a potential new masking push for vaccinated Americans.
- Per The Washington Post, “Talks are in a preliminary phase and their result could be as simple as new messaging from top White House officials.”
- The talks have included officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who are looking at their own face mask guidance — separate from the White House agenda, according to The Washington Post.
- Overall, the White House feels the messaging would need to come from the CDC since the White House remained hands off on the mask guidances, the unnamed officials told The Washington Post.
Are mask mandates back?
The potential change from the White House comes as local health leaders consider adding mask mandates back. For example, Los Angeles County announced it would add an indoor mask mandate again due to the delta variant surge, as I wrote for the Deseret News.
Former Surgeon General Jerome Adams told WISH-TV that mask mandates may be needed to slow the spread of the new, highly transmissible delta variant.
- “We need to prepare the public for what could be, again, a return to some of these mitigation measures,” he said.