Coronavirus: Global situation
US surgeon-general stands by 'no mask' guidance, slams Facebook
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WASHINGTON • US Surgeon-General Vivek Murthy has stood by federal guidance that those fully vaccinated against Covid-19 no longer needed to wear masks, while blaming social media companies for fuelling vaccine misinformation.
Dr Murthy told CNN's State of the Union that allowing vaccinated individuals to forgo masks also gives communities the flexibility to revert to mask mandates based on new infections and vaccination rates, as Los Angeles has done.
Meanwhile, new Covid-19 cases in the US surged 70 per cent last week compared with the prior seven days to an average of 30,000 new infections a day, fuelled by the Delta variant.
Deaths rose 26 per cent week-over-week to an average of 250 a day. Those who died were mostly not vaccinated.
Dr Murthy said social media companies have fuelled false narratives about the safety and effectiveness of Covid-19 vaccines, echoing President Joe Biden's comments that social media companies were "killing people".
"There have been positive steps taken by these technology companies," Dr Murthy said. "But what I've also said to them publicly and privately is that it's not enough."
Facebook defended itself against Mr Biden's assertion in a post last Saturday, saying that it promoted authoritative information about vaccines and acted aggressively against health misinformation on its platforms.
Senator Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat, told CNN's State of the Union that she was looking into ways to hold social companies legally responsible for vaccine misinformation and suggested some might even need to be broken up.
"I am a fan of using anti-trust so we can get true competition against the dominant platforms," Ms Klobuchar said.
Mr Ken McClure, the mayor of Springfield, Missouri, said misinformation was part of the driving force behind poor vaccination rates in his community, which has experienced a huge spike in cases.
"I think we're seeing a lot spread through social media," Mr McClure told CBS' Face the Nation.
"I think we as a society and certainly in our community are being hurt by it."
REUTERS
