New COVID Spike: Will Americans Mask Up Again?

A surge in COVID cases and the emergence of new variants in the US has prompted some institutions to return to masking. What measures have been taken by US states so far?

Some US states are encouraging or requiring Americans to start masking up again as the number of COVID cases has been ramping up since late summer.

As per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), nationwide COVID hospitalizations in the most recent week increased by 18.8% while SARS-CoV-2-related deaths surged by more than 21%.

US public health officials also informed the population about two new COVID variants: Omicron EG.5 (also known as Eris) and BA.2.86.

According to the CDC, Eris appears to be more transmissible than earlier variants, while BA.2.86 may be "more capable of causing infection" in those who have previously suffered from the virus or were vaccinated.

As of yet, the CDC has not made a broad recommendation for everyone to wear masks. However, as per the US press, that could happen if hospitalizations reach "critical levels." Thus the agency recommends "universal masking" in jurisdictions with 20 or more people with COVID per 100,000 in local hospitals; whereas masking for high-risk individuals could be implemented when 10 to 19.9 people per 100,000 are hospitalized with COVID.

Which States Have Imposed Mask Mandates?

Mask mandates were reinstated in schools, hospitals and other public places in some states starting from mid-August.

New York: A group of hospitals in the state - including United Health Services, Auburn Community Hospital and University Hospital in Syracuse - have reintroduced mandatory masking. New York City Health Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan warned that Ba.2.86 is "likely to evade immunity that has developed from vaccination or prior infection." The New York City Health Department has advised residents and visitors to mask up over Labor Day weekend.

Georgia: In Atlanta, Morris Brown College has reinstated mask mandate for two weeks as well as social distancing. "There will be no parties or large student events on campus for the next two weeks," the school said in a statement.

California: Hollywood studio Lionsgate in Santa Monica required some of its employees to wear masks. Healthcare facility Kaiser Permanente reinstated its mask mandate in Santa Rosa.

Alabama: The Talladega City School district has strongly encouraged students to wear masks. Kinterbish Junior High School asked students, staff and visitors to do the same.

Which Politicians Oppose Masking Up?

Some US politicians have signaled that they will not return to masking despite the spike in COVID hospitalizations.

Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker has made it clear that the state authorities are not discussing the possibility of mask-mandating measures.

Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves stressed that his state will "not return to widespread masking or COVID rules." Per him, "people have a right to make their own decisions."

Former President Donald Trump is particularly critical of the measure. In a campaign video released on X (formerly known as Twitter) he lambasted the resumption of COVID measures as "fear-mongering" by "COVID tyrants". He stated that "we will not comply" with any new lockdowns or mask and vaccine mandates. Trump vowed that if reelected, he would cut federal funding to those schools and public transportation systems that resort to mask or vaccine mandates.

Ex-COVID Czar Fauci Defends Masks

Former White House COVID Czar Anthony Fauci defended masking on September 2 while speaking to a US broadcaster.

"I am concerned that people will not abide by recommendations," Fauci said. "I would hope that if we get to the point that the volume of cases is such and organizations, like the CDC, recommend — CDC does not mandate anything — recommends that people wear masks, I would hope that people abide by that recommendation and take into account the risks to themselves and their families."

The former medical adviser to both the Donald Trump and Joe Biden administrations insisted that a study from earlier this year which concluded that wearing masks is ineffective amid the COVID pandemic was "misleading."

"When you’re talking about the effect on the pandemic as a whole, the data is less strong,” Fauci argued. "But when you talk about an individual basis of someone protecting themselves… There’s no doubt that there’s many studies that show that there is an advantage [to masks]."

Controversy Surrounding Mask Mandate

The study mentioned by Fauci was released on January 30 by the British database Cochrane and argued that masks did not actually work during the COVID pandemic.

"Wearing masks in the community probably makes little or no difference to the outcome of influenza‐like illness (ILI)/COVID‐19 like illness compared to not wearing masks," a group of scientists led by Tom Jefferson, a senior associate tutor at the Department for Continuing Education at the University of Oxford, stated.

In his February interview with a Western journalist, Jefferson doubled down on lambasting the pandemic's "overnight experts", and suggested that a number of health practices implemented during the COVID outbreak were scientifically baseless.

The study's conclusions were later debated by Karla Soares-Weiser, MD, PhD, MSc, and editor-in-chief of the Cochrane Library. "Many commentators have claimed that a recently-updated Cochrane Review shows that ‘masks don't work,’ which is an inaccurate and misleading interpretation," she stated on March 10.

Meanwhile, a recent study, published in The Lancet's Microbe journal, suggested that people who are non-symptomatic rarely have the ability to infect others with SARS-CoV-2.

"Very few emissions occurred before the first reported symptom (7%) and hardly any before the first positive lateral flow antigen test (2%)," the study reads.

The US conservative press cited the research while lambasting the attempts to impose new mask mandates in some Blue states.

The media also criticized Fauci for flip-flopping during the outbreak with regard to mask mandates: despite initially discouraging universal mask-wearing, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) later did a U-turn. Conservatives fear that renewed pandemic "hysteria" will be instrumentalized to cover up Joe Biden's blunders ahead of the 2024 presidential elections.

Given multiple instances when internal unrest and pandemics were used by US major political parties in their election fight, one could easily imagine that some American politicians may try to capitalize on the emerging wave of COVID for their own ends.