By Logan Rude Jul 28, 2021 | 2:02 PM MADISON, Wis. — State health officials, in line with new guidance from the CDC, are recommending people who live in areas with substantial and high levels of COVID-19 transmission mask up in public indoor settings, regardless of vaccination status. Experts with the Wisconsin Department of Health Services said the new guidance was issued due to the rising prevalence of the Delta variant of the coronavirus. The variant is highly infectious and is rapidly spreading nationwide. “Wisconsin’s 7-day average for new confirmed and probable cases has been trending upward,” said DHS Deputy Secretary Julie Willems Van Dijk. “We are concerned with this trajectory along with the increasing proportion of sequenced SARS-CoV-2 specimens that are the Delta variant.”