ADPH spokesman Ryan Easterling in a message to APR on Wednesday said the department was finalizing its school toolkit which will follow CDC guidance on masks in schools, which the CDC updated Tuesday.
CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky told reporters Tuesday that the change in mask recommendations comes after new data on the delta variant shows that viral loads carried by the vaccinated are as high as those carried by the unvaccinated, meaning the vaccinated can transmit the virus.
“In recent days I have seen new scientific data from recent outbreak investigations showing that that delta variant behaves uniquely differently from past strains of the virus that cause COVID-19,” Walensky said, also noting, however, that the CDC believes vast majority of transmission is occurring in unvaccinated people and through unvaccinated people.