CDC Recommends Wearing Masks Again In Six Capital Region Counties

Last week the CDC recommended that people in three counties in the Capital Region start wearing masks while inside buildings again. That recommendation was for individuals that are already vaccinated and people that aren't vaccinated.

Now, less than a week later the list of counties where the CDC is recommending mask-wearing has doubled. Initially, the CDC recommended people start wearing masks again indoors in Rensselaer, Saratoga, and Schenectady counties. Then on Sunday, the CDC updated their list to include Albany, Columbia, and Schoharie counties.

According to the CDC, the other counties that aren't on the list currently have moderate transmission rates. However, as we've seen with this virus those rates could change quickly.

Currently, the state and local governments aren't enacting a mask mandate, but the way things are going with the new Delta variant of the coronavirus it looks like we're headed that way if we don't get our transmission rates under control.

In a recent speech from Dr. Fauci he mentioned that there are really two ways to lower our transmission rates again. One, is of course, by wearing a mask indoors and social distancing. The second is continuing to get more and more people vaccinated.

As far as a state-required mask mandate, I feel like that's going to be, "a Jeanie that will be hard to put back in the bottle" especially since Governor Cuomo doesn't have the executive power he had in the early days of the pandemic once an emergency was declared. Plus, with the feeling like everything is opening up now, people are going to resist a mask mandate again. Even if it's the right thing to do.