"The agency also updated its risk guidelines to focus primarily on hospital burden rather than local transmission alone. By the old metrics, nearly all American counties should be masking; under the new standards, that recommendation applies to only about 37 percent, designated orange on the agency’s map, at a “high” COVID-19 community level."
Pinning community action to a lagging indicator like hospitalizations is a recipe for creating hot spots. This is a terrible move by the CDC that doesn’t seem based on science.