NEW YORK (AP) – Fully vaccinated Americans can reunite with other vaccinated people indoors without wearing a mask or socially distancing themselves, according to expected guidance from federal health officials.
The recommendations also say that vaccinated people can meet in the same way, in a single home, with people considered at low risk of serious illness, as in the case of vaccinated grandparents who visit healthy children and grandchildren.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced the guide on Monday.
The targeting is designed to meet growing demand as more adults are vaccinated and wonder if it gives them more freedom to visit family members, travel or do other things like before the COVID-19 pandemic ravaged the world. last year. .
“With more and more people being vaccinated every day, we are starting to turn the corner,” said CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky.
During a press conference Monday, he said the guide was a “first step” to restoring normalcy in the way people come together. He said there would be more activities for vaccinated people once the number of cases and deaths decreased, more Americans will be vaccinated and as more science emerges about the ability of those who have been vaccinated to get and spread the virus.
The CDC continues to recommend that fully vaccinated people still wear tight-fitting masks, avoid large gatherings, and physically distance themselves from others when they go out in public. The CDC also advised vaccinated individuals to get tested if they develop symptoms that could be related to COVID-19.
CDC guidelines did not speak to people who could have obtained a certain level of immunity to become infected and recover from the coronavirus.
Officials say a person is considered fully vaccinated two weeks after receiving the last required dose of vaccine. According to the CDC, approximately 31 million Americans (or only 9% of the U.S. population) have been fully vaccinated with a federally authorized COVID-19 vaccine.
Authorized vaccine doses were first available in December and were products that required two separate doses weeks. But since January, a small but growing number of Americans have been completely vaccinated and have been asking questions such as: Should I still wear a mask? Can I go to a bar now? Can I finally see my grandchildren?
The guidance was “good news for a nation that is understandably tired of the pandemic and wants to resume normal activities safely,” said Dr. Richard Besser, president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and former director at CDC functions.
“I hope this new orientation will give everyone the impetus to get vaccinated when they can and give states the patience to follow the public health roadmap needed to reopen their economies and communities safely,” Besser said. in a statement.
But some said the guidelines are too cautious.
Dr. Ali Khan, dean of the College of Public Health at the University of Nebraska, said the guidelines are reasonable in many ways, with the exception of travel.
The CDC did not change its travel recommendations, which discourages unnecessary travel and calls for testing within a few days of travel. This can seem confusing to vaccinated people who expect to visit a family nationwide or abroad.
“They should relax travel for the vaccinated” and immediately publish electronic standards for documents proving whether a person is completely vaccinated, said Khan, who was previously a leading CDC disease detective.
The new guidance also says nothing about going to restaurants or other places, although rulers lift restrictions on businesses, said Dr. Leana Wen, an emergency physician and professor of public health at George Washington University, who was previously Baltimore health commissioner.
Wen said the CDC should have prepared some sort of post-vaccination guidance in January, when some people began finishing second doses. And he said the guide that came out Monday was “too prudent.”
“The CDC is missing an important opportunity to relate the state of vaccination to the reopening guideline. By coming out with such a limited guideline, they lack the window to influence state and national policy,” Wen said in a e-mail.
But some of the people completely vaccinated were pleased with Monday’s news.
Ruth Michienzi was one of the people who received her second and final dose of vaccine at a pharmacy inside a Stop and Shop supermarket in Woburn, Massachusetts, Monday morning.
The 91-year-old resident of Burlington said it was okay to still wear a mask in public and follow other safety guidelines, even after she had been completely vaccinated.
But Michienzi also said she is excited to be able to take off the mask in front of her three great-grandchildren. He has seen them in person since he received his first shot about a month ago, but has kept his mask on.
“I hope they remember me,” he said.
“I’ve been doing all this for a year and I don’t want it to be lost this year,” Michienzi said of safety regulations. “I think it’s smart to wait.”
A couple of customers, who were not online to receive shots, however, were openly concerned about the continued restrictions and expressed fears that stricter travel and socialization mandates would continue, even if they were vaccinated more.
Grace McShane, 61, of Melrose, also received her second dose Monday at the same supermarket.
He says he qualified for the vaccine because he has a high risk, including a heart attack last year. The home caregiver said she was also fine with continued restrictions even after she was vaccinated.
“Even if you get vaccinated, it’s better to be safe than sorry. This is the new normal. This is part of life and you just have to adapt to it,” McShane said.
She said she looks forward to hugging her three grandchildren without having to wear a mask. Her older children have also been vaccinated as essential workers, she said.
“You just have to hug them 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 the report.
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