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‘Now is not the moment’ to drop mask rules, CDC director says as states end mandates

Key updates
Covid deaths highest in a year as omicron targets the unvaccinated and older people
Texas man pleads guilty to threats sent to Maryland doctor over coronavirus vaccine
The CDC’s do-not-travel list now encompasses more than half the world’s destinations
On Feb. 8, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky told Reuters that the agency’s masking in schools guidance “has not changed." (Video: Reuters)
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Updated February 8, 2022 at 11:15 p.m. EST|Published February 8, 2022 at 4:10 a.m. EST

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As more states announce an end to mask mandates in schools and other public places, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned against lifting such requirements, citing the country’s still-high rate of new infections.

“Now is not the moment,” the agency’s chief, Rochelle Walensky, told Reuters in an interview published Tuesday, one day after five states announced major changes in their masking policies.

“I know people are interested in taking masks off. I too am interested. That would be one marker that we have much of the pandemic behind us,” Walenksy told the outlet. “Right now our CDC guidance has not changed. … We continue to endorse universal masking in schools.”  
Covid deaths highest in a year as omicron targets the unvaccinated and older people
Texas man pleads guilty to threats sent to Maryland doctor over coronavirus vaccine
The CDC’s do-not-travel list now encompasses more than half the world’s destinations

Here’s what to know

  • With plentiful vaccines and dropping case numbers, a growing portion of the U.S. population has decided to simply live with the coronavirus and move on, polls show.
  • The coronavirus appears to increase common pregnancy complications, according to a new National Institutes of Health study, underscoring the need for women of childbearing age to get vaccinated.
  • A Canadian judge issued a 10-day injunction against the use of air horns in parts of downtown Ottawa, as authorities try to clamp down on the “Freedom Convoy,” a group of protesters whose grievances grew from opposition to U.S. and Canadian rules requiring cross-border truckers to be fully vaccinated.
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Here's what to know:

With plentiful vaccines and dropping case numbers, a growing portion of the U.S. population has decided to simply live with the coronavirus and move on, polls show.
The coronavirus appears to increase common pregnancy complications, according to a new National Institutes of Health study, underscoring the need for women of childbearing age to get vaccinated.
A Canadian judge issued a 10-day injunction against the use of air horns in parts of downtown Ottawa, as authorities try to clamp down on the “Freedom Convoy,” a group of protesters whose grievances grew from opposition to U.S. and Canadian rules requiring cross-border truckers to be fully vaccinated.

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Coronavirus: What you need to know

Where do things stand? See the latest covid numbers in the U.S. and across the world. In the U.S., pandemic trends have shifted and now White people are more likely to die from covid than Black people.

The state of public health: Conservative and libertarian forces have defanged much of the nation’s public health system through legislation and litigation as the world staggers into the fourth year of covid.

Grief and the pandemic: A Washington Post reporter covered the coronavirus — and then endured the death of her mother from covid-19. She offers a window into grief and resilience.

Would we shut down again? What will the United States do the next time a deadly virus comes knocking on the door?

Vaccines: The CDC recommends that everyone age 5 and older get an updated covid booster shot. New federal data shows adults who received the updated shots cut their risk of being hospitalized with covid-19 by 50 percent. Here’s guidance on when you should get the omicron booster and how vaccine efficacy could be affected by your prior infections.

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