People fully vaccinated against COVID-19 can socialize without masks, CDC says

 Annabelle Krause

AP Bio

Current Event 16

3/16/21

Jesus, Erin Garcia de, and Tina Hesman Saey. “People Fully Vaccinated against COVID-19 Can Socialize without Masks, CDC Says.” Science News, 9 Mar. 2021, www.sciencenews.org/article/covid-19-cdc-fully-vaccinated-people-guidelines-social-distancing. 

In the article, People fully vaccinated against COVID-19 can socialize without masks, CDC says, the authors, Erin Garcia de Jesus and Tina Hesman Saey, present the recent news that it is safe for those who have been vaccinated to socialize and interact with others who have been vaccinated.  This is a very new finding, though an expected one, and it may represent us finally moving past the COVID-19 pandemic.  However, it is important that even those who are vaccinated take precautions and wear masks around those who are unvaccinated, since they could still carry the virus.  Citing CDC director Rochelle Walensky, they write that “[t]hese guidelines are a first step toward letting people know what aspects of normal life can resume, … but could change as new data become available.”  This is all quite new, as the COVID-19 pandemic has been, and as more information is discovered, guidelines may change.  It is likely, however, that things will become more permissive rather than more restrictive, but the looming COVID-19 variations could impact that.  These new guidelines are in light of the fact that “59 million adults in the United States have gotten at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine[, and,] [o]f those, 31 million people — 9.2 percent of the U.S. population — are fully vaccinated.”  This is a great step forward for the United States.  And, “Those numbers are “putting us on a strong path to eventually ending this pandemic,” Walensky said.”  It is important to remember, and the authors remind us, that being fully vaccinated does not guarantee that one will not get sick or be infected, it only prevents severe illness and death.  There are ongoing studies on the efficacy of the different vaccines.  But, regardless of this, it is still safe, according to CDC guidelines, for vaccinated groups to partake in “indoor gatherings sans masks or social distancing,” and they “don’t need to quarantine if exposed to the coronavirus, as long as they don’t have any COVID-19 symptoms.”  Socializing with unvaccinated people in these settings is still not recommended because it is a high risk activity.  In general, people must continue to wear masks, regardless of if they are vaccinated or not, and social distance in order to protect those who are still unvaccinated.

This article is extremely relevant right now, especially to Westchester, as we experience a spike in COVID-19 cases.  It is important for us as citizens to stay informed about the status of the vaccine and the guidelines surrounding seeing people.  Our lives have been irrevocably impacted by COVID-19 for the last eleven months, and as things begin to look normal, it is important to stay appraised and optimistic.  The ending to the pandemic is (hopefully) nearing, and it is important that people continue to follow guidelines to allow the vaccine to be administered and work effectively.

This article was quite easy to understand and succinct in explaining the science.  I appreciated that they explained all of the different guidelines and different ways in which things have changed and will change.  It emphasized to me that things are improving, which is a very nice and positive message.  I personally would have appreciated it if the author had given more of their own commentary on the relevance of these findings and guidelines rather than leaving it for the reader to reason out.  I understand that there really is no conclusion to be drawn as of yet, so it may be difficult for the author to extrapolate, but it would have been more clear and had a stronger message if the author had done so.  It also would have been interesting for the author to discuss the vaccine roll out and guidelines in other countries, since the United States does not exist in a vacuum, and it is important to consider the conditions of the world at large.  Overall, it was a very interesting piece that explained a complicated set of issues very well.