Late last year, Rochelle Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, made a commitment about face masks, one of the defining symbols of the Covid-19 pandemic. “Masks are for now, they’re not forever,” Walensky told ABC News. “We have to find a way to be done with them.”
On Friday, Walensky is expected to deliver at least in part on that pledge, outlining long-awaited new guidance on when the CDC believes people should consider wearing masks and when they might safely stash them in a drawer for a time.