Nearly 73 million Americans live in counties with high Covid-19 infections. It's time to reset and put masks back on, expert says

Wen, a CNN medical analyst, gave two exceptions to the occasions she thinks people should be wearing masks indoors in public: when everyone is vaccinated and has provided proof or if there is a very high level of community vaccination.

Ideally, mask mandates would be in place while leaders move toward methods of proving vaccination status to boost vaccination rates, said Wen, an emergency physician and visiting professor of health policy and management at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health.

Meanwhile, the man who was US surgeon general when the pandemic began says he wants the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to formally change its masking guidance because of the Delta variant and rising case numbers.

Vaccinated and unvaccinated people should wear masks "in places where cases are rising yet vaccinations rates remain low," former Surgeon General Jerome Adams wrote in an opinion piece published Wednesday by the Washington Post.

That would be a change from the CDC's announcement May 13, when it said fully vaccinated people don't have to wear masks indoors or outdoors.

"Instead of vax it or mask it, people might need to vax it and mask it," Adams wrote.

About 28% of the US population, or more than 91 million people, lives in a county considered to have "high" Covid-19 transmission, according to data from the CDC.

"We're gonna watch people needlessly die over the next month or two, for no good reason."

Child cases of Covid-19 nearly double since late June

While the virus spreads among unvaccinated adults, children -- many of whom are not yet eligible to be vaccinated -- are feeling the impacts.

"It doesn't look like this virus is selectively targeting children," Dr.

If this year and next there is a still a problem with coronavirus, "it very well might be required," Fauci said Tuesday on "CBS This Morning."

Workplaces begin to mandate vaccinations

Many experts have suggested local vaccination mandates could be an important strategy for boosting the vaccination rate and bringing the virus under control.

Starting in August, workers at New York City hospitals and health clinics will be required to either get vaccinated or take weekly Covid-19 tests, according to Bill Neidhardt, Mayor Bill de Blasio's spokesperson.

Eleven public hospitals are part of the initiative.

Additionally, Banner Health, a nonprofit health service that is the largest private employer in Arizona, is requiring employees to be vaccinated against Covid-19 in order to keep their jobs.

"Safety is an absolute top priority and the COVID vaccine mandate reflects that commitment."

Banner Health employs about 52,000 people in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nebraska, Nevada and Wyoming, it said.

Such measures could become more common when the vaccines get full FDA authorization, experts have said.

Despite the vaccination push, a poll published Tuesday by Axios-Ipsos showed a majority of unvaccinated Americans said they are not at all likely to get vaccinated -- regardless of outreach efforts.