New CDC guidelines on COVID vaccines, safe activities expected soon
“I want to really keep our eye on the fact that. cases are increasing right now, slightly. The goal is not to sort of open up travel, open up all things because … we’re scaling up vaccination. The goal in those first 100 days has always been to sort of make sure that we are in a place to be out of this pandemic,” Walensky said. “At 70,000 cases per day, we’re not in that place right now.”
The CDC guidance may include recommendations Americans still limit their social interactions to small gatherings in the home with other fully vaccinated individuals, wear masks in public and adhere to other public-health measures such as social distancing for the foreseeable future.
Whenever they are released, the revised CDC recommendations may mark the first time the federal government has signaled to Americans they can start taking steps back to the old rhythms of work, school and play.
Last week, Fauci said he was hoping the recommendations would be released before the end of February.
Over the last several weeks, Walensky has been warning the emergence of new variants and increased transmission could threaten the progress the country has made during the last month with decreased hospitalizations, cases and deaths.
In a recent interview with the Journal of the American Medical Association, Walensky said she hoped for the best but also warned of a worst-case scenario — that people will stop wearing masks and physically distancing too early and that many will prematurely declare they’ve had enough of the pandemic and won’t get vaccinated.
“What worries me a little bit is when you hit September, and then it gets colder again, and there may be a variant that emerges,” and people stop wearing masks and physically distancing, Dr. Paul Offit, a vaccine expert at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, told The New York Times last week.
On Feb. 10, the CDC said those who have been fully vaccinated against COVID can skip quarantine if they are exposed to someone infected with the virus. “Fully vaccinated persons who meet criteria will no longer be required to quarantine following an exposure to someone with COVID-19,” the CDC said in updates to its web page.
As of now, the CDC is still recommending that vaccinated people follow the same rules as everybody else about wearing a mask, keeping a 6-foot distance and avoiding crowds — even after they’ve gotten their second vaccine dose.
On Feb. 22, the U.S. passed the grim milestone of 500,000 coronavirus deaths.
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