On Friday\u2019s broadcast of \u201cCNN This Morning,\u201d CDC Director Dr. Mandy Cohen responded to some schools mandating masks by saying that \u201cwe want folks to be reacting to what they\u2019re seeing on the ground in their community and making sure that they\u2019re protecting themselves.\u201d She also stated that \u201cmasking is one of those solutions that folks could choose to use to protect themselves from this virus. It\u2019s important to know your own risk. Are you around folks who are older or who have underlying conditions? Then we need to use more layers of protection.\u201d
Co-host Sara Sidner asked, \u201cWith that recent uptick, there are several school districts that are now requiring masks once again. Is that a good policy? Is that something that should be happening, that we go back to masking at this point?\u201d
Cohen responded, \u201cWe\u2019re in a different place than we were before. We\u2019re outside of the emergency, but COVID is still with us. And we know that we have tools to protect us. We\u2019ve been talking about vaccines being one, and I hope everyone gets an updated vaccine. But we have others. Testing, treatment, and other common-sense solutions. And, yes, masking is one of those solutions that folks could choose to use to protect themselves from this virus. It\u2019s important to know your own risk. Are you around folks who are older or who have underlying conditions? Then we need to use more layers of protection. The fact is, we have tools. We need to use them. And we\u2019re going to keep talking about the ways folks can protect themselves.\u201d
Sidner then asked, \u201cDo you think that this is a good recommendation, that schools should be masking now? As I said, there are several schools, I think Maryland one of them, where they\u2019re saying, okay, now you have to mask again.\u201d
Cohen responded, \u201cWell, look, we want folks to be reacting to what they\u2019re seeing on the ground in their community and making sure that they\u2019re protecting themselves. We want folks to know that there are tools that they can use. But there are more things than masks. Remember, ventilation, don\u2019t forget your vaccine, wash your hands, stay home when you\u2019re sick. These are layers of tools that we have right now. And we want to just empower folks to use those tools and support them in any way we can.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n