To go with its new guidance that even vaccinated people should wear a mask indoors in areas with “high” COVID-19 transmission, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released an up-to-date county-by-county COVID transmission map of the U.S.
A high level of community transmission, according to the CDC, is occurring in areas where more than 100 new COVID-19 cases are reported per 100,000 people in a seven-day period. As of today, nearly every county in North Texas has passed that threshold. That’s a lot of red on the map. Not so long ago, in the glory days of early July, we were enjoying a yellow map and, per the CDC, a “moderate” level of COVID-19 transmission. Not anymore.
If you’ve got a minute and would like to experience a powerful sense of dread, here’s a time-lapse of that CDC map showing how much things change in a month.