CDC Announces Guidance for Vaccinated Americans

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued long-awaited advice to fully vaccinated Americans against Covid-19 on Monday, with unvaccinated Americans taking no precautions while keeping a distance from masking. We have made it possible to freely gather in small groups indoors. In a public place.

The agency has provided good news for grandparents who have refrained from seeing their children and grandchildren for the past year, and vaccinated people are single unless they are at risk of serious illness if infected. He said he could visit indoors with unvaccinated households. With coronavirus.

In fact, fully vaccinated grandparents can visit healthy grandchildren in the same household as unvaccinated healthy adult children without masks or physical distance. However, visits should be made locally — the agency has not yet recommended traveling for Americans, whether vaccinated or not.

Agency recommendations arrived as state authorities moved to reopen businesses and schools As the number of virus cases and deaths decreases.. Federal health officials have repeatedly warned against loosening restrictions too soon, Includes lifting mask obligationsFearing that the movement may set the fourth stage of infection and death. As of Sunday, a seven-day average of new cases exceeded 58,700, at levels close to the peak reported last summer, according to the New York Times database.

“As more and more people are vaccinated, we are starting to turn the corner every day, and as more and more Americans are vaccinated, fully vaccinated people are to themselves. There is increasing evidence that there are some activities that can be resumed at low risk, CDC director Dr. Rochelle Warrensky said at a White House press conference on Monday.

But she added, “We strive to vaccinate more and more people quickly every day, but we have to spot this.”

New advice needs attention and can be fixed as new data becomes available. Guidance is the “first step,” Dr. Warensky said. “It’s not our final destination.”

Authorities did not rule out the possibility that fully vaccinated individuals It can develop asymptomatic infections and inadvertently spread the virus to others, And urged vaccinated people to continue to implement certain precautions.

Government officials encouraged people to get the first vaccine available. To help end the pandemic and resume normal life.. Authorities emphasized that the vaccine is very effective in preventing “serious Covid-19 illness, hospitalization, death” and its guidance is “the first step towards returning to the daily activities of our community.” Represents. “

As of Monday, about 60 million people have been vaccinated with the Covid-19 vaccine at least once, including about 31.3 million who have been fully vaccinated. According to the CDC.. On average, providers administer approximately 2.17 million doses per day.

CDC’s advice is for fully vaccinated Americans, that is, Americans at least two weeks after the second dose of Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccine, and a single dose of Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

It was largely uncertain what was safe for newly vaccinated Americans and their unvaccinated neighbors and families. Scientists still don’t understand if and how often vaccinated people can still get the virus... If so, the researchers said masking and other precautions were still needed in certain settings to contain the virus.

There is also uncertainty about how well the vaccine protects against new variants of the virus and how long the vaccine protection lasts.

The CDC says that “increased evidence” means that fully vaccinated people are less likely to get asymptomatic infections and “less likely to infect others with the virus that causes Covid-19.” Said suggesting. Still, authorities did not rule out the possibility of them inadvertently infecting the virus.

Given the current state of research, the CDC advised:

• Fully vaccinated Americans can gather indoors in small groups in private homes without masks or distances. Vaccinated people are at low risk of developing serious illness when infected with the coronavirus, and as long as they come from a single household, they are either unmasked or away from unvaccinated people. You can gather in your own residence.

• Vaccinated Americans do not need to be quarantined or tested if they are known to be exposed to the virus unless there are signs of infection. If symptoms occur, they should be quarantined, tested and consulted by a doctor.

• In public, vaccinated people wear masks, maintain social distance, avoid poorly ventilated areas, cover coughs and sneezes, wash their hands frequently, follow other protocols, etc. Other precautions need to be taken.

• Vaccinated people should avoid meetings with multiple households, as well as large and medium-sized meetings. (The agency did not specify the sizes that make up a medium or large gathering.)

The CDC did not revise its travel recommendations and continued to advise all Americans to stay home except when necessary. Dr. Walensky said the number of cases of the virus is skyrocketing with each trip.

“We are really trying to curb travel,” she said. “And hope that our next set of guidance has more science on what vaccinated people can do.

Noah Wayland Contribution report.