- CVS CEO Karen Lynch says masks will be needed until at least next year.
- Lynch says the U.S. is on track to reach the goal of vaccinating 300 million Americans by the end of the summer.
- According to Fauci, Americans could still wear masks next year, depending on the vaccination and the levels of cases.
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Face masks are likely to be the norm until at least 2022, CVS Health CEO Karen Lynch said during the DealBook DC Policy Project conference on Tuesday.
Lynch said she hopes masks will not be a household item forever, but added that it will likely be necessary until at least next year to protect the country from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
“For the health and safety of the country, I think, it’s important that we really think about wearing masks until it’s behind us,” said Lynch, who began her role as CEO earlier this month. She added that it is important to get everyone vaccinated and further studies on whether those who are vaccinated can still carry and spread the virus.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, said last week that it is possible that Americans will still have to wear masks next year, depending on whether a majority of the country is vaccinated and whether the cases of COVID-19 on is a very low level. . In the early days of his government, Biden increased his vaccination ambitions and purchased enough vaccines from Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna to vaccinate 300 million Americans by the end of the summer.
CVS is one of the retail partners that has worked with the federal government to get elderly Americans into long-term care facilities and now vaccinate the general population. In Tuesday’s interview, Lynch said, “We are well on our way to achieving what the president asked, to get 300 million Americans ready … And I’m hopeful that we will get there.”
To date, 13% of the population, or 44 million people, have received at least one injection of the two-dose vaccine, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This week, less than a year after the pandemic hit the U.S., the country transmitted 500,000 deaths related to COVID-19.
Meanwhile, COVID-19 hospitalizations have reached their lowest level since November, and some are acknowledging the vaccine’s explosion. Nevertheless, experts recommend continued use of face mask and social distance to reduce the number of hospitalizations.