Faced with a surge in coronavirus cases driven by the fast-spreading delta variant, U.S. health officials said fully vaccinated people should go back to wearing masks indoors in places where infections are soaring.
Rochelle Walensky, the director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in a call with reporters on Tuesday that the decision to adopt masking in areas with large outbreaks hadn’t been taken lightly, and acknowledged that it wouldn’t be "a welcome piece of news” for vaccinated people.
Masks for many people remain a potent symbol of the darkest days of the pandemic in 2020, before vaccines were available and hospitals around the world were filling up with patients. They also became political flashpoints in an election year shaped by the virus.