Vaccinated Individuals Can Go With out Masks In Most Indoor Settings – CBS San Francisco
WASHINGTON (CBS SF / AP) – To send the country back towards pre-pandemic life, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Thursday simplified the instructions on how to wear inner masks for those fully vaccinated so they can safely stop can wear masks inside in most places.
Masks are currently required indoors in California and the Bay Area, and the CDC’s new guidelines follow increasing pressure to relax indoor masking mandates for highly vaccinated cities like San Francisco.
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The new guidelines announced on Thursday will continue to call for the wearing of masks in crowded indoor spaces such as buses, planes, hospitals, prisons, and the homeless shelters, but will help clear the way for the reopening of jobs, schools, and other venues – and even the need for Masks or social facilities eliminate distancing for those who are fully vaccinated.
The CDC’s announcement that fully vaccinated people will no longer need to wear masks in certain indoor spaces is good news as it further underscores the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccine in fighting cases and preventing its spread in the community. (1/4)
– SFDPH (@SF_DPH) May 13, 2021
“We have all longed for this moment – when we can get back to a sense of normalcy,” said Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the director of the CDC.
The CDC will also no longer recommend that fully vaccinated people wear masks outdoors in crowds. The announcement comes as pressure has come on the CDC and the Biden government to relax restrictions on fully vaccinated people – people two weeks after their last required COVID-19 vaccine dose – to partially highlight the benefits of the shot .
Walensky announced the new guidelines at a briefing at the White House Thursday afternoon, saying the long-awaited change was thanks to millions of people who have been vaccinated – and based on the latest science on how well these recordings work.
“Anyone who is fully vaccinated can participate in indoor and outdoor activities, large and small, without wearing a mask or physically distancing themselves,” said Walensky. “When you are fully vaccinated, you can start doing the things you stopped doing because of the pandemic.”
The new guidelines come when the aggressive US vaccination campaign pays off. U.S. virus cases are lowest since September, deaths lowest since last April, and test positivity rates lowest since the pandemic began.
“You look at San Francisco, 20 cases a day, vaccinated more than 70 percent of the population. Very good tests available. You no longer need mask prescriptions indoors, and certainly not outdoors, ”said the former head of the Food and Drug Administration, Dr. Scott Gottlieb, earlier this week.
Dr. UCSF’s Monica Gandhi told KPIX 5 that she was surprised by Thursday’s announcement but described the move as prudent.
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“I can see it fully in biology, and by that I mean that vaccines are extremely effective. They protect you as a vaccinated person and especially someone next to you, ”said Gandhi.
While the CDC updated its guidelines, the California Department of Health has none and no counties as of Thursday. Patrons who work for a company must continue to adhere to the company’s rules.
“Right now, companies that ask how you say it have to fully respect what companies have set as their rules because no one in a company should be able to enforce that,” Gandhi said.
To date, approximately 154 million Americans, more than 46% of the population, have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccines, and more than 117 million are fully vaccinated. The rate of new vaccinations has slowed in recent weeks, but with the Pfizer vaccine approved for children ages 12-15 on Wednesday, a new dose surge is expected in the coming days.
Just two weeks ago, the CDC recommended that fully vaccinated people should continue to wear masks indoors in all settings and outdoors in large crowds.
During a virtual meeting on Tuesday about vaccination with a non-partisan group of governors, President Joe Biden appeared to acknowledge that his government had to do more to model the benefits of vaccination.
“I want to say that we humans have fully vaccinated. We should start doing this, ”Utah Republican Spencer Cox told Biden. “And that is a great motivation to get the unvaccinated to get vaccinated.”
“Good point,” replied Biden. He added, “We’ll be resuming this shortly.”
The guidelines on relaxation could open the door to confusion as there is no surefire way for businesses or others to differentiate between fully vaccinated and unvaccinated people.
Walensky said evidence from the US and Israel shows that the vaccines are as protective in practice as in previous studies, and that they have continued to work so far despite some worrying mutated versions of the virus spreading.
The more people continue to be vaccinated, the faster the infections will decrease – and the harder it will be for the virus to mutate enough to escape vaccines, she stressed, urging all 12-year-olds and older who are not yet vaccinated to log in.
And while some people still get COVID-19 despite being vaccinated, Walensky said it is rare, citing evidence that these infections are milder, shorter, and harder to spread to others. If someone who is vaccinated develops COVID-19 symptoms, they should put their mask back on and get tested right away, she said.
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There are some limitations. Walensky encouraged people with weak immune systems, such as: For example, organ transplants or cancer treatments, speak to their doctors before taking off their masks. This is due to the ongoing uncertainty about whether the vaccines can revive a weakened immune system, as well as normal, healthy ones.
