CDC Recommends Wearing Masks Six Months a Year

Members of the medical staff listen as Montefiore Medical Center nurses call for N95 masks and other critical PPE to handle the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in New York on April 1, 2020. Bryan Smith/AFP via Getty Images

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has updated its stance on masks and is now recommending wearing masks for up to six months a year in health care settings.

“CDC is in the early stages of developing metrics that could be used to guide when to implement select infection prevention and control practices for multiple respiratory viruses,” the CDC said in a May 8 update to its recommendations for health care personnel during COVID-19.