On May 13, after COVID-19 vaccines had been widely distributed across the U.S. and the worst of the pandemic appeared to be over, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention relaxed their recommended precautions. At that time, the CDC issued guidelines that said fully vaccinated individuals no longer had to wear masks indoors in most situations. But since May, the COVID Delta variant has spread like wildfire across the U.S and much of the world, with hospitalizations reaching peak pandemic levels not seen since last winter.
With the new wave of infections, the CDC issued revised guidelines on July 27, recommending that everyone in areas with high COVID infection rates wear masks in public indoor spaces, regardless of their vaccination status. While the Delta mutated version of the virus is highly infectious and is thought to result in more severe disease, those most impacted are the unvaccinated. The CDC maintains that individuals who’ve received vaccines are still afforded strong protection against serious illness, hospitalizations, and death.
Between The Lines’ Scott Harris spoke with Zenei Cortez, president of National Nurses United union. Here, she discusses the union’s support for the CDC’s new guidelines on masks and other measures the nation should be taking to slow and eventually end the COVID-19 pandemic.
ZENEI CORTEZ: When the CDC lifted the mandate for masking for vaccinated folks, we were very much concerned and upset that they would do that. So now, with the CDC reversing and rearranging their course, we applaud them for doing it because we know that it’s difficult to tell which people have been vaccinated and which people have not. And so there’s no way of telling. And putting on the mask is a very cheap, but effective way to stop the spread of the virus. We wanted to push very much to have masking be mandated and be highly recommended because we know that it works. And again, it might be cumbersome to a lot of people, but it is a very cheap, but effective way to stop the spread of the virus. So with them rearranging their course or refocusing on this, we are very glad that they are doing it. And so we applaud them.
SCOTT HARRIS: In your view, has the CDC got a problem with its public message out there in terms of masks and precautions that Americans should take here, whether they’re vaccinated or not. Or is it inevitable that these recommendations are going to change as a result of new scientific data coming in from these new mutations of the virus? Like the Delta variant?
ZENEI CORTEZ: Yeah. The CDC could do a better job. They should be doing a massive, widespread, proactive public education on the importance of vaccinations, of masking, social distancing, all those components that would help stop the spread of the virus. And then with this new variant that’s even more serious. So all of that should be coming from the CDC because our employers look up to the CDC for guidance and if the CDC will not improve or update their guidance, then all of us will be in bad shape.
And so we would like the CDC again, to do a better job of making sure that people are aware of the importance of vaccination and the importance of following all the precautionary principles that were there at the beginning of this pandemic. So all those components together would help stop the spread of the virus. And again, the CDC should do a better job on that.
SCOTT HARRIS: One thing that’s very troubling to people in public health across the country is that in the states of Florida and Texas, which are seeing large numbers of new infections and hospitalizations from this COVID Delta variant, we have the governors of Florida and Texas, Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbott, sign the executive orders that prohibits local and county governments in their states from mandating mask-wearing, including in Florida mask-wearing in schools when a lot of children will be coming back into the school system in the fall and there is no vaccine for children under 12 and from what I understand are more vulnerable to this Delta COVID variant than they were to the original virus. In many ways, it’s inexplicable and irrational here in the midst of this new wave of COVID to be telling local and county governments, they can’t impose mask mandates.
ZENEI CORTEZ: For the nurses again, what we’re saying is that we should not mix politics with science, because, like I’ve mentioned, science has shown that a multiple measures approach is the most effective and something we can be doing now. And masking, like I said, is cheap, but very effective. And so, these elected officials should not be putting their political career before what science has proven. And that puts our folks, our children, the public at risk.
It’s really breaking the hearts of nurses that the public, especially the children, the elderly, those who are vulnerable, are being put at high risk over this nonsense and that should stop. People should make sure that their elected political candidates should be held accountable for all these needless deaths.
For more information, visit the National Nurses United Union at nationalnursesunited.org.
