Tell the CDC: Revoke dangerous guidance on mask use!

Nurses are outraged that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has relaxed protective measures concerning mask use in the midst of the deadliest pandemic in a century.

The CDC recently released guidance stating that fully vaccinated people no longer need to wear masks, avoid crowds or large gatherings, and no longer need to isolate after exposure or get tested unless they develop symptoms. This guidance is not based on science, does not protect public health, and threatens the lives of patients, nurses, and other frontline workers across the country.

Use the form below to show your support for nurses and demand that the CDC revoke its dangerous new guidance on mask use. Now is not the time to relax protective measures!

Make your voice heard

I am writing to share my strong support for National Nurses United’s condemnation of new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidance stating that fully vaccinated people no longer need to wear masks, avoid crowds or large gatherings, and no longer need to isolate after exposure or get tested unless they develop symptoms.

This newest CDC guidance is not based on science, does not protect public health, and threatens the lives of patients, nurses, and other frontline workers across the country. Now is not the time to relax protective measures, and I support nurses outraged that the CDC has done just that while we are still in the midst of the deadliest pandemic in a century.

This new guidance has been issued even though the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) emergency temporary standard mandated by President Biden’s Jan. 21 executive order has been delayed for two months. This lack of protection compounds the dangers that nurses and other essential workers continue to face on the job.

There are a number of concerns with the new guidance, including:

A continued high number of Covid cases in the United States, with more than 35,000 new detected infections reported each day, and more than 600 people dying from Covid each day.

Circulation of Covid variants of concern that are more transmissible, deadlier, and may already be or may become vaccine resistant.

Unanswered questions about vaccines. It is unclear how well vaccines prevent asymptomatic and mild Covid infections, how well vaccines prevent transmission of the virus, and how long protection from vaccines will last.

The CDC has announced they would no longer be tracking infections among fully vaccinated people unless they result in hospitalization or death. This means that the CDC is no longer tracking data necessary to understand whether vaccines prevent asymptomatic/mild infections, how long vaccine protection may last, and to understand how variants impact vaccine protection.

The CDC has “recognized” scientific evidence on aerosol transmission but refused to update guidance based on science. Nurses say the CDC needs to fully recognize aerosol transmission and update its Covid guidance accordingly to prioritize measures that prevent and reduce aerosol transmission (ventilation, respiratory protection, testing to identify asymptomatic cases).

Preventing and reducing transmission of Covid requires multiple layers of protective measures. Nurses say this includes masks, distancing, and avoiding crowds and large gatherings—in addition to vaccines. Importantly, it also includes protecting nurses and other frontline workers from workplace exposure to the virus. Vaccines are only one important component of a robust, public health infection control program.

The recent guidelines are unjust and will disproportionately harm Black, Indigenous, and people of color. Inequity in the vaccine rollout and racial inequity in who is a frontline worker put most at risk by this guidance means that the impact of the CDC’s guidance update will be felt disproportionately by workers of color and their families and communities.

The new CDC guidance underlines the importance of OSHA issuing a long overdue OSHA emergency temporary standard (ETS) on infectious diseases without delay. Without a Covid ETS, we will undoubtedly see more unnecessary, preventable infections and deaths, as well as long Covid cases among nurses and other frontline workers.

This pandemic is not over. Nurses follow the precautionary principle, which means that until we know for sure something is safe, we use the highest level of protections, not the lowest. The CDC is putting lives at risk with this latest guidance.

I fully support nurses calling for a revocation of dangerous guidance on mask use that threatens the lives of patients, nurses, and other frontline workers across the country.

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