- Kevin McCarthy: ‘Bringing masks back is not a decision based on science’
- CDC advises vaccinated people to wear masks indoors in surge areas
- Biden to announce vaccine requirement for US federal workers – report
2.57pm BST
Scott Gottlieb, the former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration under Donald Trump, said that he expected the delta wave of coronavirus infections in the US to pass in the next few weeks.
“The vaccine does not make you impervious to infection,” Gottlieb told CNBC this morning. “There are some people who are developing mild and asymptomatic infections even after vaccination.”
“If you are vaccinated in a high prevalence area, in contact with virus, you think you might have the virus because you have mild symptoms–be prudent, get tested, maybe wear a mask especially if you are around a vulnerable person,” says @ScottGottliebMD. pic.twitter.com/LFlMffkfe9
2.33pm BST
Masks will also once again be required at the White House because Washington currently meets the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s standard for “substantial” spread of coronavirus.
“As a result and in keeping with guidance being issued today to White House staff, the WHCA is reimposing its mask requirement for all indoor spaces at the White House,” the White House Correspondents’ Association said yesterday in an advisory to its members.
2.32pm BST
Meanwhile, Joe Biden plans to announce that coronavirus vaccines will be required for all federal employees, according to a new report.
CNN reports:
Biden will announce on Thursday a requirement that all federal employees and contractors be vaccinated against Covid-19, or be required to submit to regular testing and mitigation requirements, according to a source with direct knowledge of the matter.
The announcement will come in remarks where Biden is also expected to lay out a series of new steps, including incentives, in an attempt to spur new vaccinations as the Delta variant spreads rapidly throughout the country. It will also follow the decision by the Department of Veterans Affairs to require its frontline health care workers to be vaccinated over the course of the next two months.
Related: Biden to announce vaccine requirement for US federal workers – report
2.32pm BST
Greetings from Washington, live blog readers.
Republicans are reacting with criticism and scorn to the new mask guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Make no mistake—The threat of bringing masks back is not a decision based on science, but a decision conjured up by liberal government officials who want to continue to live in a perpetual pandemic state.