Science - USA (2022-03-04)

940 4 MARCH 2022 • VOL 375 ISSUE 6584 science.org SCIENCE

PHOTO: SCOTT MCINTYRE/

THE NEW YORK TIMES

T

he often-acrimonious U.S. debate over wear-

ing masks entered a new phase last week when

the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

(CDC) loosened its guidance and suggested about

70% of the population could jettison them. The

turnabout comes as the Omicron wave ebbs and

scientists consider how to recalibrate public health pre-

cautions, given the mostly mild or moderate disease the

virus variant causes in vaccinated people. CDC’s new ap-

proach relies on regional COVID-19 hospital admission

rates, the percentage of hospital beds filled by those

patients, and new cases per 100,000 people during the

past week. Previously, case numbers had played the star-

ring role. Some scientists praised the agency’s change;

others criticized it because the U.S. population includes

many vulnerable people, like those with compromised

immune systems, and children under age 5, for whom

COVID-19 vaccines aren’t yet available. State and local

health authorities in the United States determine mask

wearing rules but often turn to CDC for guidance.

NEWS

IN BRIEF

Nobelists denied CRISPR patent

BIOTECHNOLOGY | The team that won

a Nobel Prize for its groundbreaking

creation of the CRISPR genome editor lost

a key patent battle this week. An appeals

board of the U.S. Patent and Trademark

Office ruled that a rival group led by

the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard

convincingly showed it first “reduced to

practice” the use of CRISPR as an editor of

eukaryotic cells in October 2012. Nobel lau-

reates Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle

Charpentier and their colleagues first

described using CRISPR to edit specific

DNA in 2012, but the group, known as

the CVC, struggled to make it work in

eukaryotic cells. The patents for CRISPR in

eukaryotic cells represent a huge financial

windfall because these are the foundation

for human medicines. The CVC, which

Edited by

Jeffrey Brainard

COVID

CDC relaxes guidance on wearing masks in public

“

Fifty percent is a failing grade. It’s an F. Someone with the

resources of Facebook should be aiming for an A.

”

Imran Ahmed of the Center for Countering Digital Hate, on its finding that Facebook is failing to label

about half the posts that promote articles from publishers of climate misinformation.

Many schools that have mandated wearing masks are considering making them optional, following new U.S. government guidance.