ATLANTA — As COVID hot spots and concerns over the Delta variant continue to rise, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reversed its stance and now recommends people wear masks indoors, including in Georgia -- even if you're fully vaccinated.
In May, the CDC said people who are fully vaccinated could stop wearing masks in most settings. However, the Atlanta-based agency said it is reversing its recommendation as cases surge again.
The CDC said people should return to wearing masks indoors in areas with substantial or high amounts of community transmission of COVID-19.
The agency's website features a color-coded interactive map that shows different levels of community transmission. In the color-coded map, orange reflects substantial community transmission and red indicates high transmission.
The map shows many Georgia counties in the orange and red.
Here is a look at a few metro Atlanta counties. The CDC indicates the data depicted in the map is from the time period of Monday, July 19 through Sunday, July 25.
- Cobb - red (high transmission)
- DeKalb - orange (substantial transmission)
- Fulton - orange (substantial transmission)
- Gwinnett - orange (substantial transmission
Substantial transmission means there's been 50-100 cases per 100,000 over a 7-day period and high transmission means an area has seen more than 100 cases per 100,000 over a 7-day period, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky explained.
The CDC also recommends all students, kindergarten through 12th grade, wear masks at they return to school this fall. Before the announcement, metro districts' varied on its mask guidelines.
Several districts said masks would be optional, while Atlanta Public Schools, Clayton County, Clarke County and DeKalb County will require them.
Clarke County said it made its decision to require masks to avoid going back to virtual learning. In the county, less than one in five kids are eligible for the vaccine, while less than 40% of its eligible residents are fully vaccinated.
Data shows that in Georgia, counties with the highest positivity rates are primarily in central and South Georgia.
The chart below shows the 14-day positivity rates for many of those counties.
11Alive reached back out to metro districts after the CDC's announcement and just heard back from the state's largest school district.
Gwinnett County Public Schools said it will require masks for students, staff, and visitors to all GCPS facilities including on school buses, regardless of vaccination status.