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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended a return to indoor masking in Lycoming County – even among those fully vaccinated – starting Thursday.
Lycoming County recently passed the CDC’s threshold of “Substantial transmission” which means the weekly COVID-19 case rate is between 50 and 100 cases per 100,000 people, or the weekly positivity rate is between 8% and 10%, according to the County COVID-19 Hub, found at https: // lycoming-county -pa-covid-19-lyco.hub.arcgis.com/.
As of Thursday, the seven-day case rate was 57.4 per 100,000 people in the county, well above the state average of 44.1 per 100,000.
This is an increase from just 3.5 cases per 100,000 as of mid-July, according to the Lycoming County COVID-19 Hub.
Using data from the Lycoming County COVID-19 Hub, the average daily increase in cases since August 1 is 11.8, more than 10 times the average daily increase from the same period starting July 1 ( 1,2).
The CDC recommends wearing masks in indoor public places, regardless of immunization status in areas with “substantial” or “high” transmission rate.
“Infections only occur in a small proportion of fully vaccinated people, even with the Delta variant”, According to the CDC. “However, preliminary evidence suggests that fully vaccinated people who are infected with the Delta variant can pass the virus on to others.”
This, coupled with the CDC’s claim that the Delta variant is the “predominant” in the United States now, leads to updated guidelines, such as changing masking recommendations.
More than two dozen counties in Pennsylvania have been identified as having “substantial” or higher transmission, with neighboring Potter County crossing “high” transmission territory, according to the CDC. Nearly 50,000 people in Lycoming County have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, according to the state Department of Health.
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