If you’re at high risk of serious illness or death from Covid-19, it’s time to dust off those N95 masks and place them snugly over your nose and mouth to protect yourself from a recent uptick of the virus, according to a growing number of experts.

That advice should go all the way up to 80-year-old President Joe Biden, said Dr. Jonathan Reiner, a cardiologist. “At least until the numbers start to drop again, it would be appropriate for President Biden to take some precautions and wear a mask in crowds.”

Other high-risk groups (beyond those over 65) include people with diabetes, cancer, chronic liver, kidney or lung disease, organ or stem cell transplants, HIV or other immunocompromising conditions, a history of heart disease or stroke, dementia high-risk groups or mental health issues.

“If you’re a caregiver for somebody who is at increased risk of complication following infection, then I think you should also consider putting a mask on in public places,” said Reiner, a professor at the George Washington University School of Medicine & Health Sciences.

A new variant, BA.2.86 (nicknamed BA.X or “Pirola”), has captured scientists’ attention because it’s highly mutated, but so far it’s only been detected in a small number of people globally. Nonetheless, “it doesn’t look good … in terms of the virus’ nonstop evolution,” Topol, a professor of molecular medicine at Scripps Research, said. The virus “keeps finding new ways to challenge humans, to find new hosts and repeat hosts, and it’s relentless.”

The new booster coming this fall will target a family of Omicron subvariants called XBB and is expected to provide good protection against even newer versions, Topol said, but scientists are not sure how significant BA.2.86 will be. The new booster will not protect against that.

Some institutions are already reacting to the rise in Covid. Morris Brown College in Atlanta announced a return to mandated physical distancing and masks just one week after classes started in August. Rutgers and Georgetown are universities are again requiring masking indoors.

Although some medical offices and hospitals have gradually dropped masking requirements, a group of doctors in Washington state wrote in an editorial published Tuesday that health care settings should maintain masking — even if the broader population doesn’t. “Masking also remains an important mitigation measure to protect the health of our health care workforce, including those who are at high risk for severe disease,” the doctors wrote in in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

One place where people should wear masks? Hospitals. The end of the formal Covid emergency means that several hospitals dropped their mandates, Abdullah Shihipar (public health researcher at the Brown University School of Public Health) wrote. Masks "don't just help against Covid but against other respiratory illnesses," and hospital-acquired infections are pretty common. Masking up in medical settings is just good sense. "No one wants to go to the hospital and come away with a new illness."

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Are Americans in the mood for masks?

Most are probably not. Despite the concern among experts and some institutions, Americans don’t appear to be worried enough about the recent rise in cases to change their behavior.

However, “Covid isn’t just only about the effects of the infection,”
said Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, professor of medicine and an infectious disease specialist at the University of California, adding that the infection can raise the risk of diabetes, heart disease or Alzheimer’s that’s independent of long Covid.
He also added, “If you cannot get COVID, that’s a good thing at any age.”

Regardless of how you may feel about wearing a mask, the reality is that Covid-19 is here to stay, experts say, and we will need to continue to adapt.

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Meanwhile, the mask mandate is also back for employees at Lionsgate headquarters (including at 'Masked Singer' studio) in Santa Monica, as COVID-19 cases in the state and nationwide have been on the upswing again. The policy change came after several employees tested positive for COVID-19, according to an internal memo. Kaiser Permanente, a prominent health care provider, has also brought back their mask mandate.

In L.A. County, workplaces, hospitals and other indoor settings with crowds of people are required to mask up when outbreaks occur, according to the Department of Public Health. In the USA overall, it is up to local communities to determine how they will handle COVID waves. There is little chance that any restrictions (for the public good or not) will return to the various "Red States".

Medical and scientific experts agree that the current wave of COVID in the US (including hospitalizations and deaths) will probably get worse before it subsides again. How much worse remains to be seen.

A lot will depend on human behavior and on which variant becomes dominant.