US health authorities largely relaxed their recommendations Friday on wearing a mask, which would not be recommended indoors for the majority of the country’s population, including in many schools.

“We are now in a much better position as a nation, and we have more tools to protect us from Covid-19,” Rochelle Wallinsky, director of the Centers for Prevention and Control, said at a press conference. The country’s leading health agencies.

Some provinces are still required to wear masks indoors

The CDC has so far only used the number of new cases recorded in each county to determine Covid-19 levels by region. By this measure, 95% of the country recorded a high rate of transmission of the virus, as it recommended wearing a muzzle indoors for all claimants. But the CDC has now decided to include hospital occupancy rates in its scale, as well as the number of new daily hospitalizations.

Thus, more than 60% of counties, which account for 70% of the American population, now register a level that qualifies as “low” or “medium” and can therefore drop the mask. Only counties with a “high” level of Covid-19 are still subject to the recommendation to wear a mask indoors.

It is up to the states to take action

Hot spot: In schools, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has so far recommended masks everywhere in the country, regardless of transmission levels. From now on, the mask will only be recommended in schools in counties with the level of Covid-19 that qualifies as “high” under this new measure.

However, these recommendations remain indicative, and effective constraints are being taken at the local level in the United States. In practice, many countries have already announced that they will drop the mask indoors.