Updated Federal Guidance For the first time in weeks, Arizona’s most populous county has lifted recommendations for indoor face masks.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention designated Maricopa County a “low” COVID-19 community level on Thursday. This means that face masks are not explicitly recommended for most people in indoor public areas.
Maricopa County has been designated as “High” since July 14th. Guidance is updated weekly and ranks counties as low, medium, high or green, yellow, or orange.
Counties designated as “high” level on Thursday were Mojave, Navajo, Apache, Yuma and La Paz. The CDC recommends that residents in “High” counties wear masks indoors in public, regardless of their vaccination status.
In addition to Maricopa County, other counties designated as low as of Thursday are Yavapai, Pinal, and Greenlee counties. Coconino, Gira, Graham, Cochise, Santa Cruz, and Pima counties are all at the medium community level.
As of Thursday’s update, nearly 42% of counties nationwide were designated as high.
Navajo and Apache counties have been the top ranked counties since June 9. La Paz has topped the list every week since June 23rd (except July 7th), Mojave County since his June 30th, and Yuma County since his July 14th.
This metric is based on county COVID-19 hospital bed occupancy, COVID-19 hospitalizations, and virus case rates in the past week.
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Face masks are not explicitly recommended for residents of mid-level counties, but those who are immunocompromised, at high risk of severe illness, or who have household or social contacts at high risk of severe illness. Except for certain people, such as a certain person.
CDC also recommends “increased precautions in high-risk collective environments” in communities designated as intermediate.
Large areas of the county designated “High” include Florida, Kentucky, West Virginia, and Louisiana.
Face mask recommendations have changed, but the CDC map of COVID-19 viral transmission shows infections are still high in 94% of U.S. counties as of the latest update.
Reported COVID-19 cases in Arizona continue to rise at a relatively consistent weekly pace.
State health officials Wednesday added 15,034 new COVID-19 cases and 74 new known deaths in the week ended July 30, with relatively similar weekly periods in June and July. of cases were added.
The number of cases is still well below winter, as state data show. The number of cases in recent months may not represent the full picture of transmission, as many people are using home testing kits and may not have reported positive results to doctors or county health departments. There is a possibility
In Arizona, as in other states, cases continue to increase primarily due to two contagious subspecies of the virus, BA.4 and BA.5, with BA.5 leading among the two. more dominant.
The contagious nature of BA.5, given its transmissibility and ability to evade antibodies, may contribute to reinfection and infection in fully vaccinated and enhanced populations.
Please contact the reporter at Stephanie.Innes@gannett.com or at 602-444-8369. follow her on her twitter @stephanieinnes.
Please contact the reporter at Alison.Steinbach@arizonarepublic.com Or at 602-444-4282. Follow her on her Twitter @.alsteinbach.
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