Completely immunized individuals can gather without masks inside, should in any case avoid travel, says US

Completely immunized individuals can gather without masks inside, should in any case avoid travel, says US

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  • Source: Reuters

  • Date: 09 Mar,2021

People who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 can fulfill without masks inside in small groups with others that have been inoculated but should prevent non-essential traveling and continue to wear face-coverings in public, the Biden administration said on Monday.

In a long-awaited update of its guidance for behaviors to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said fully vaccinated individuals could also meet in small groups with unvaccinated individuals deemed at low-risk for severe COVID-19 from one other household without masks.

The slight lifting of constraints represented a still cautious approach to public health guidance despite the quickly growing number of vaccinated people. President Joe Biden has urged Americans to stay vigilant and continue to follow CDC guidelines to prevent another surge of cases.

The CDC said fully vaccinated people should continue to follow several precautions like avoiding big in-person gatherings, wearing masks when visiting with unvaccinated people from several households or wearing masks when with people at risk for severe COVID-19.

CDC Director Rochelle Walensky told reporters it was important to protect those who have never been vaccinated and stay vulnerable while some 60,000 new coronavirus cases occur daily.

“We stay in the midst of a serious pandemic, and still over 90 percent of our population isn’t fully vaccinated,” she said. “Therefore, everyone whether vaccinated or not, should continue to prevent moderate – and large-sized gatherings as well as non-essential travel.”

More than 525,000 people have died of COVID-19 in the United States. Some states have started to lift restrictions on a massive scale.

Many Americans eager to contact their pre-pandemic way of life see vaccinations as a means to do that. Businesses, particularly in the hospitality and travel industry, are hopeful that a growing number of vaccinated people will feel comfortable flying and dining out again.

The new guidelines address how vaccinated people can safely resume some more normal activities and contacts with those outside their households while the coronavirus is still widely circulating, but they did not represent a massive shift.

“Today’s action represents an important first step. “As more people get vaccinated, levels of COVID-19 disease reduction in communities, and as our understanding of COVID immunity accrues, we anticipate updating these recommendations to the general public.”

The recommendations come as about 30 million people, or 9.2percent of the U.S. population, have been completely inoculated with COVID-19 vaccines produced by Pfizer Inc/ BioNTech SE, Moderna Inc and Johnson & Johnson, according to CDC data.

The new guidelines were”reasonable and quite suitable,” said Carlos del Rio, executive associate dean in the Emory School of Medicine. “We will need to start telling people what to do, and in that, the guidelines are fairly clear.”

Currently authorized COVID-19 vaccines prevent people from becoming sick but not necessarily from becoming infected. Data on whether vaccinated individuals can spread the virus to unprotected people is sparse, and Walensky warned that the risk vaccinated individuals could spread the disease remained.

The CDC last month said vaccinated individuals could skip the standard 14-day quarantine after exposure to someone with COVID-19, as long as they remain asymptomatic.

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