Mask up: CDC set to tell Americans

Officials likely to ask teachers, students, staff at K-12 schools to wear masks indoors regardless of Covid vaccination status

US health officials will return to tighter guidelines for the use of masks, advising that fully vaccinated individuals wear them in public indoor settings in places where the coronavirus is spreading rapidly as part of a response to the spread of the Delta variant of Covid-19.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is expected to recommend that teachers, staff, students and visitors to K-12 schools wear masks indoors regardless of vaccination status, according to a preview of the guidance. Children should return to full-time, in-person learning in the fall with prevention strategies in place, the preview said.

Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious-disease expert,

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has warned that the US is moving in the wrong direction in combating a new Covid wave spurred on by Delta.

CDC director Rochelle Walensky is planning a press briefing where she’ll discuss breakthrough infections in vaccinated people and using masks to prevent further outbreaks in areas of substantial and high transmission.

A growing number of publichealth experts have urged the agency to recommend that even fully vaccinated people wear face masks in public amid the resurgence of cases fed by the Delta variant of the coronavirus.

Fauci said new recommendations on face masks were under active consideration on CNN on Sunday.

China: Nanjing sealed off

The city of Nanjing in eastern China has been virtually sealed off and residents advised to stay indoors after 31 new Covid-19 cases were reported on Tuesday in the past 24 hours, pushing the total number of infections up to 112 in the ongoing outbreak. Authorities said genetic sequencing of the virus from the cluster turned out to be of the Delta variant.

Beijing calls on WHO to probe Fort Detrick lab

China hit back at the US over the investigation into the origin of the Covid-19 virus, with Zhao Lijian, spokesperson of the country’s foreign affairs ministry, suggesting on Monday that if labs are to be investigated, then the World Health Organization (WHO) should also probe Fort Detrick, which is a military base in Maryland, US.

“If labs are to be investigated, then the WHO experts should go to Fort Detrick. The US should act transparently and responsibly as soon as possible and invite WHO experts for an inquiry into the Fort Detrick lab. Only in this way can truth be revealed to the world,” Zhao tweeted. The remark came in response to calls for a second round of investigation into the origin of the virus.

READ: Unicef says schools need to reopen, education at risk