Jul 28, 2021, 8:14 AM EDT
Masks now recommended in US Senate
Following the new CDC guidance, the Capitol attending physician is recommending that senators and U.S. Senate staff wear face masks.
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
-ABC News’ Trish Turner
'Steady increase' in vaccines in past month, White House says
The U.S. saw its largest single-day increase in nearly nine months Friday.
Last Updated: August 2, 2021, 7:10 AM EDT
The United States is facing a COVID-19 surge this summer as the more contagious delta variant spreads.
More than 613,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 and over 4.2 million people have died worldwide, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
Just 57.9% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC on Tuesday, citing new science on the transmissibility of the delta variant, changed its mask guidance to now recommend everyone in areas with substantial or high levels of transmission -- vaccinated or not -- wear a face covering in public, indoor settings.
Latest headlines:
- Jul 31, 2021, 5:38 PM EDT
- Jul 31, 2021, 4:58 PM EDT
- Jul 30, 2021, 1:00 PM EDT
- Jul 30, 2021, 12:05 PM EDT
- Jul 30, 2021, 10:45 AM EDT
Here's how the news is developing today. All times Eastern.
Jul 28, 2021, 8:05 AM EDT
Vaccinated people with breakthrough infections could pass COVID to the immunosuppressed: CDC director
The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, spoke to “Good Morning America” Wednesday about why the CDC has reversed its guidance on masks for vaccinated people.
She said the agency felt it was important that vaccinated Americans “understand that if they happen to be one of those breakthrough infections, which was more likely in areas with a huge amount of transmission and disease, that those people could potentially pass it on to somebody, a loved one, who is immunosuppressed.”
Walensky said the mask guidance was changed because of the “new science that demonstrated for those who are vaccinated, that they could in fact transmit if they are one of those rare breakthrough infections.”
ABC News
Jul 27, 2021, 10:27 PM EDT
House of Representatives reimposes mask mandate following new CDC guidance
The Office of the Attending Physician is now requiring all members and staff to wear “medical-grade” masks throughout the House of Representatives unless members are speaking in the hall of the House or individuals are alone.
Members and staff will once again be prohibited from stepping on the floor to vote without a mask, or risk incurring fines.
The new guidance follows the CDC’s latest recommendations and will not be in effect on the Senate side.
-ABC News' Ben Siegel
Jul 27, 2021, 7:17 PM EDT
Biden to announce vaccine mandate for federal workers
President Joe Biden is expected to announce a vaccine mandate for the nation’s 2.1 million federal employees on Thursday, ABC News has learned.
Details around the policy are still being reviewed by the White House, however, sources familiar with the discussion told ABC News that employees who aren't vaccinated will abide by "stringent COVID-19 protocols like mandatory mask wearing – even in communities not with high or substantial spread - and regular testing."
Susan Walsh/AP
Once enacted, this will be the largest vaccine mandate by a single employer of this pandemic.
New York City and the state of California announced Monday similar rules for their public employees.
White House sources also told ABC News that following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's new recommendations on indoor mask use, the president will wear a mask when he travels to areas where the transmission rates are high and he needs to be indoors.
-ABC News' Cecilia Vega and Sarah Kolinovsky
