Dr Rochelle Walensky's warning that face-covering requirements are still critical came just days after governors in Iowa and Montana lifted long-standing mask mandates in their states. Whether Americans can look forward to walking down the street without wearing a mask by the end of the year "very much depends on how we behave right now," she said. While COVID-19 infection rates and hospitalizations appear to be waning, the United States has a long way to go before it can safely return to a mask-less normal, she said. Health experts say population-wide mask wearing is one of the most effective ways of pushing COVID-19 transmission down to controllable levels. The US inoculation campaign has gained considerable momentum since a sluggish start in December, with 52.9 million total vaccines administered so far, according to the CDC.

Source: bd News24 February 14, 2021 23:26 UTC