Americans Divided as Mask Mandates Make a Comeback Amid COVID-19 Surge

Several schools and private companies have reinstated mask mandates as COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations continue to increase across the country.

People wear masks at an indoor mall in The Oculus in lower Manhattan on the day that a mask mandate went into effect in New York, on Dec. 13, 2021. Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Several schools and private companies have reinstated mask mandates as COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations continue to increase across the country, causing divisions in communities over how to limit the spread of the coronavirus.

COVID-19 hospitalizations have increased by nearly 16 percent over the past week alone, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).