Rochelle Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said this week that people should consider wearing masks at gatherings as the flu, RSV, and Covid all pick up steam heading into the holiday season.
“One need not wait on CDC action in order to put a mask on,” Walensky told reporters. “We would encourage all of those preventative measures – handwashing, staying home when you’re sick, masking, increased ventilation – during respiratory virus season, but especially in areas of high Covid-19 community levels.”
New Jersey doesn’t have a blanket mask mandate anymore, but does still require one in “high-risk areas” like hospitals, nursing homes, and doctor offices, and does still strongly urge people to wear one in crowded indoor settings.
On Wednesday, New Jersey health officials reported an additional 2,096 Covid cases and 17 more confirmed deaths from the virus, as well as a 10-month high of Covid patients being treated in New Jersey hospitals.