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NEW YORK (AP) – Fully vaccinated Americans can congregate with other vaccinated people indoors without wearing masks or social distancing, according to long-awaited advice from federal health officials.
The recommendations also state that vaccinated people can meet in the same way – in the same household – with people considered to be at low risk of serious illness, as in the case of vaccinated grandparents visiting healthy children and grandchildren. health.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced the guidance on Monday.
The counseling is designed to meet a growing demand as more adults get vaccinated and wonder if it gives them more freedom to visit family members, travel or do other things like they were doing this before the COVID-19 pandemic swept the world last year. .
“With more and more people being vaccinated every day, we are starting to turn a corner,” said Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the CDC.
At a press briefing Monday, she called the advice a “first step” towards restoring normalcy to the way people come together. She said more activities would be acceptable for those vaccinated once the number of cases and deaths decrease, more Americans are vaccinated, and more science emerges on the ability of those who have been vaccinated to catch it. and spread the virus.
The CDC continues to recommend that fully vaccinated people always wear well-fitting masks, avoid large gatherings, and physically distance themselves from others when in public. The CDC has also advised people who have been vaccinated to get tested if they develop symptoms that could be linked to COVID-19.
The CDC guidelines were not directed at people who may have acquired some level of immunity to infection and recovery from the coronavirus.
Officials say a person is considered fully vaccinated two weeks after receiving the last required dose of vaccine. About 31 million Americans – only about 9% of the U.S. population – have been fully immunized with a federally authorized COVID-19 vaccine so far, according to the CDC.
Authorized vaccine doses first became available in December, and these were products that required two doses spaced several weeks apart. But since January, a small but growing number of Americans have been fully immunized and have asked questions such as: Do I always wear a mask? Can I go to a bar now? Can I finally see my grandchildren?
This direction was “good news for a nation that is naturally tired of the pandemic and aspires to safely resume normal operations,” said Dr Richard Besser, President and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and former acting director of the CDC.
“I hope this new direction will give everyone the boost to get vaccinated when they can and give states the patience to follow the public health roadmap necessary to reopen their economies and communities safely.” Besser said in a statement.
But some said the guidelines were too cautious.
Dr Ali Khan, dean of the University of Nebraska College of Public Health, said the advice was reasonable in many ways – with the exception of travel.
The CDC hasn’t changed its travel recommendations, which discourages unnecessary travel and calls for getting tested within days of travel. This can seem confusing to people with vaccines hoping to visit family across the country or abroad.
“They need to relax trips for people who have been vaccinated” and immediately release electronic standards for documents indicating whether a person is fully vaccinated, said Khan, who was previously a top disease detective at the CDC.
The new guidelines also don’t say about going to restaurants or other places, even as governors lift restrictions on businesses, said Dr Leana Wen, an emergency physician and professor of public health at the George Washington University who was previously Baltimore Health Commissioner.
Wen said the CDC should have had some sort of post-vaccination advice ready in January, when some people started to finish their second doses. And she called the advice released Monday “far too cautious.”
“The CDC is missing a major opportunity to link immunization status with reopening guidelines. By coming out with such limited advice, they are missing the window to influence state and national policy,” Wen said, in an e- mail.
But some fully vaccinated people were delighted with Monday’s news.
Ruth Michienzi was among those who received her second and final dose of the vaccine at a drugstore at a Stop and Shop supermarket in Woburn, Massachusetts on Monday morning.
The 91-year-old resident of nearby Burlington said she couldn’t have to wear a face mask in public and follow other safety guidelines even after being fully immunized.
But Michienzi also said she was thrilled to finally be able to take off her mask in front of her three great-grandchildren. She has seen them in person since receiving her first injection about a month ago, but she has kept her mask on.
“I hope they will remember me,” she said.
“I’ve been doing all of this for a year, and I don’t want this year to be wasted,” Michienzi said of the safety rules. “I think it’s smart to wait.”
A pair of clients, who weren’t in line to receive vaccines, however, openly grumbled over the lingering restrictions and expressed fears that stricter travel and socializing mandates would follow, although others are vaccinated.
Grace McShane, 61, of Melrose, also received her second dose on Monday at the same supermarket.
She says she qualified for the vaccine because she is at high risk, including a heart attack last year. The home caregiver said she also accepts the restrictions that persist even after being vaccinated.
“Even if you are vaccinated, it is better to be safe than sorry. This is the new normal. It’s part of life and you just have to adapt to it, ”said McShane.
She said she couldn’t wait to hug her three grandchildren without having to wear a mask. Her adult children have also been vaccinated as essential workers, she said.
“Just cuddle and give them hugs,” McShane said. “That’s all I want to do.”
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Associated Press reporters Phil Marcelo in Boston and Zeke Miller in Washington contributed to this report.
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The Associated Press’s Department of Health and Science receives support from the Department of Science Education at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Copyright © 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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