Health Experts Explain How They Stay Safe Amid US Delta Spread

• Health experts are adjusting their behavior now that the Delta variant is increasing cases of COVID-19.
• Even though they are fully vaccinated, experts say they wear masks in all indoor environments.
• But they still travel, see friends, and take their kids to outdoor games.

Rule number one in the home of epidemiologist Emily Gurley: don’t panic.

As the Delta variant pushes COVID-19 cases in the United States to their highest level in nearly six months, Gurley’s family has no longer locked themselves in. Instead, they made small adjustments to their daily activities.

“I ask my kids to wear masks everywhere,” Gurley, who works at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Maryland, told Insider. “Maybe a month ago the transmission was so weak here, if you go to a restaurant it’s okay. Eat inside. So now I’m like ‘Hmm, maybe think back a little. Eat outside if you can. If you’re going to be inside, put on a mask. ‘”

Although all members of Gurley’s family are fully vaccinated, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that vaccines do not prevent infection or transmission as well as they did before Delta’s rise. However, injections still reduce the risk of contracting COVID-19 by eight and hospitalization or death by 25. But the CDC now recommends that even vaccinated people wear masks in areas with high transmission – which are most. the United States.

Insider spoke to a few vaccinated health experts about how their own behavior has changed since this recommendation was published. Most had never stopped wearing masks indoors to begin with. But some now avoid interior areas where unvaccinated people may be present. However, they are not canceling their travel plans yet.

Gurley sees friends and considers taking a plane

AP Photo / LM Otero

Gurley said most of his social life is spent with vaccinated friends outside.

“The idea of ​​getting together with friends for a drink and a hug with close friends is good, and we’ve done it – especially in the low transmission setting, which we’ve been enjoying for some time. where I live, ”she said. noted.

She also plans to make a domestic trip in a few weeks, which requires air travel.

“I’m not at all flippant about being affected and want to take precautions, but at the moment I’m not planning to cancel my trip,” Gurley said.

She avoids gyms, however, especially those that don’t require masks. Gurley said she has read too many reports of COVID-19 outbreaks in these settings.

Bob Wachter cancels poker games and hides inside

Lucy Nicholson / Reuters

Bob Wachter, director of the Department of Medicine at the University of California at San Francisco, tweeted last week that he has stopped dining indoors and attending his usual poker games with friends, even though the group is vaccinated. Wachter has yet to cancel any existing flights, but he is not booking optional trips at this time, he said.

These considerations are based on the fact that Wachter is 63 years old and received his Pfizer vaccine over the winter.

Pfizer announced last month that the antibodies produced by its vaccine may start to decline after six months, although the vaccine still offers good protection against serious illness. The vaccine is also slightly less effective against Delta: Studies in England and Scotland indicate that Pfizer’s vaccine reduces the risk of symptomatic Delta infection by 88%, compared to 95% for the original strain.

So Wachter said he went back to layer a tissue and surgical mask inside and don an N95 mask on airplanes.

“If I had gotten used to being indoors without a mask in a place where I wasn’t sure everyone was vaccinated, I would be uncomfortable now,” he told Insider in June.

Vivek Cherian rates schools for her children based on their mask policies

Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

Vivek Cherian, an internal medicine doctor in Baltimore, said all of his decisions revolved around protecting his two young children, who are not yet eligible for the vaccine. Children have outdoor games with their classmates, Cherian said. But his family avoids trips to the mall, and he and his wife wear masks in any indoor public setting.

“If I pass it on to my kids and they’re one of those unlucky ones, frankly my wife and I will never forgive each other,” he said.

Their family plans to move to Chicago soon, so they are looking for a new school that practices a similar level of caution.

“We really had our minds on a school and then all of a sudden it hit me, ‘Hey, let’s ask about the masking policy,’” Cherian said. The school informed him that the masks were a violation of children’s autonomy, he said.

“We were just a little shocked when we heard this,” Cherian said. “So it literally went from our number one school to completely off the list.”

Ruth Carrico avoids poorly ventilated buildings

Tobias Hase / Picture Alliance via Getty Images

Ruth Carrico, professor of infectious diseases at the University of Louisville, pays attention to the flow of air as she enters a room. If the building doesn’t keep the doors open or is stuffy, “it’s buildings that tell me,” You know, it’s not for me. We are not going to meet here, “” she said.

Carrico said she does this even though she is fully vaccinated, and regardless of the number of daily COVID-19 cases in her area.

“My actions are going to be consistent because I know that even though the rates are low, when I interact with people, I can still come into contact with someone who is either sick and asymptomatic or sick and who has not. started doing it again. showing symptoms, “she said. “So the risk of disease for me is the driving force.”

That doesn’t mean she’s hiding at home all the time, she added. Carrico said she meets with other vaccinated people and shops at the grocery store – but she wears a mask in public and washes her hands frequently.

“I have lost five people I know who were either healthcare workers or friends who contracted this disease and did not survive,” Carrico said. “So the impact of this is very real to me.”