(TheRedAlertNews.com) – In a move that is certain to spark dissension across the United States, COVID-19 mask mandates are being reinstated at companies and schools reportedly because of the new EG.5 coronavirus variant.
One of the businesses reimposing face mask mandates for employees is the Hollywood studio Lionsgate.
It sent its workers an email telling them to self-screen and wear masks on some floors of its office in Santa Monica after several employees caught the EG.5 variant, The Hollywood Reporter informs, as cited by Newsmax.
Data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) say COVID-19 hospital admissions have spiked by 14% this week.
At the same time, experts are quoted as saying that the EG.5 variant, which descended from the omicron variant, shouldn’t be causing a large wave of infections or more concerns than other strains.
Meanwhile, Morris Brown College, a private institution in Atlanta, Georgia, has also reinstated a mask mandate for its campus, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.
Claiming there were “reports of positive cases among students in the Atlanta University Center,” the school instructed its students, faculty, and staff to wear masks for two weeks.
Yet, Morris Brown President Kevin James told the news outlet there hadn’t been any new cases on campus, but the mask mandate constituted “precautionary measures.”
The AJC notes that coronavirus cases in Georgia have been rising for three weeks in a row now.
Meanwhile, some Seattle health officials and government doctors have authored an editorial article for the American College of Physicians, insisting on mask mandates in all healthcare facilities.
They argued patients faced a greater risk of getting seriously ill with COVID-19 or dying from the virus.
“[One of] the two strains that are circulating causing most of the infections is what’s called EG.5. People have probably heard about that. It’s called the ‘Eris’ strain,” commented former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, noting the other variant is called Fl.1.5.1.
“Both have a very similar mutation in them called a 456 mutation that allows them to pierce the immunity that we’ve acquired from prior infections and also from prior vaccination, so people are getting infected with that,” he explained.
He added that a new variant detected in Michigan did not seem more dangerous than other strains.
HERE WE GO AGAIN: Morris Brown College in Atlanta reinstates mask mandate, social distancing rules due to "reports of positive [COVID] cases among students."
"There will be no parties or large student gatherings…" pic.twitter.com/JuGM3dRW8U
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) August 22, 2023
