Less than a day after advising it, the CDC has dropped its recommendation to wear a mask as protection against monkeypox, possibly due to backlash on social media.
Yesterday, the CDC raised the alert level to 2, which included additional safety recommendations for travellers — one of which was a mask requirement.
“Wear a mask. Wearing a mask can help protect you from many diseases, including monkeypox,” their website read.
But today, that line has been removed. The other additional recommendations remain, such as washing hands and avoiding touching your face – but the mask line is gone.
No update has been provided yet as to why the CDC made this change, but this may be a response to being mocked on Twitter for recommending masks for a disease that has yet to kill anyone in the West, where the outbreak is occurring.
“The CDC has just raised the Monkeypox alert level to Level 2. They’re now also recommending the use of masks to slow the spread… yes, masks. No, I am not kidding about the masks,” one Twitter user wrote.