House Hearing Considers How To Overcome Vaccine Hesitancy
(Photo : Getty Images/Drew Angerer)
WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 1: Former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams testifies during a Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis hearing about how to counter vaccine hesitancy, on Capitol Hill July 1, 2021 in Washington, DC. According to the committee, a recent survey shows that up to 20 percent of Americans continue to say they will refuse the vaccine or are unsure about the vaccine.

Former President Donald Trump administration's Surgeon General Jerome Adams is calling for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to rethink its mask guidelines. Due to the emergence of Delta variant and the dropping rates of vaccination, his notion was brought upon the surge in COVID-19 cases throughout the United States.

Adams formerly advised against the donning of face masks. In the previous week, he opened up on social media and confessed his remorse regarding the advisory last year. He said that Tony Fauci and he prematurely, publicly, and wrongly recommended against the use of face masks in 2020. He formerly felt it was a good call.

Wearing of Face Masks Again

The highly contagious Delta variant is becoming more and more prevalent, particularly among uninoculated US citizens. According to experts, it could be time for the majority of the nation to wear face masks again.

According to Dr. Leana Wen on Tuesday, compared to the previous month, they are at a distinct point in the pandemicat present. She then stated, "And, therefore, we should follow the example of LA County and say that if there are places where vaccinated and unvaccinated people are mixing, then indoor mask mandates should still apply," reported WTOP News.

Adams suggested on Wednesday for inoculated and uninoculated individuals to wear face masks in places where there are climbing COVID-19 cases yet inoculation rates are still low. This would be veering away from the CDC's declaration on May 13 indicating that fully inoculated people do not have to wear face masks indoors or outdoors, reported News Channel 21.

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Recognizing His Wrong Advisory in 2020

Adams wrote in Washington Post that the agency needs to immediately revise its guidelines on the wearing of face masks in order to combat the rapidly rising novel coronavirus infections due to the Delta variant. Due to his wrong warning in 2020, he recognized that he is very much aware of how it is to be well-intentioned while bearing a wrong notion on masks. It can be recalled that he said there is no need for the public to mask up.

During the weekend, Los Angeles County reimposed a mask mandate necessitating masking indoors regardless of the status of inoculation. According to the public health department, the county recorded on Wednesday a 20-fold increase in new novel coronavirus cases over the past month.

The former surgeon general stressed the importance of "vaxing it and masking it," urging people to wear protective gear as face mask and to get vaccinated. 

Data from the CDC indicated that an estimated 28% of the population of the United States, which is over 91 million people, lives in a county regarded to have a great level of COVID-19 transmission.

Adams added that when the CDC loosened its mask guidelines, he initially regarded that the revised advisory could persuade more people to receive inoculation. He continued that it is clear that the message numerous Americans heard was that, inoculated or not, masks were gone for good.

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