Additional explanation about the CDC’s new mask guidelines

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Sat, 2021-05-15 11:43 — mike kraft

What you need to know about the CDC’s new mask guidelines What happens to kids under 12? How do you know if someone is vaccinated? Laurie McGinley, Lenny Bernstein Washington Post

The announcement by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday that people who have been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus no longer need to wear masks in most places was hailed as the path to liberation for many who have endured through the strictures of the pandemic. But the new recommendations also raised an array of questions and complications for businesses, consumers and parents — and the answers might not be clear for some time.

Does the new CDC recommendation mean that if I am vaccinated I no longer have to wear a mask anywhere?

No. The CDC wants vaccinated people to wear masks in health-care settings and on planes, buses, trains and other public transportation. Also, everyone will have to abide by state and local mandates to wear masks where they remain in place. Businesses and other private entities can still require employees and patrons to wear masks, and some are likely to do so.

Some critics have said the guidance creates confusion because it allows fully vaccinated people to go maskless in grocery stores, restaurants and gyms but not on airplanes and trains. Henry Walke, a CDC medical officer who has been leading the agency’s coronavirus response since last July, acknowledged that the lines are not completely clear.

But he said the CDC believes that fully vaccinated people are protected, “and the risk is to the unvaccinated people.” The difference, he said, comes down to an individual’s ability to choose settings. On an airplane or train, people are “unable to make choices about who is sitting near them for a period of time,” he said.

The CDC also did not address schools. For children under 12 who cannot be vaccinated yet, it is unclear how they and their teachers should behave. Schools are beginning to figure that out. For 12-to-15-year-olds, vaccination is just beginning, so many academic terms will have ended before adolescents are two weeks beyond their second shots. Policies should be in place for the fall. Children are much less likely to develop covid-19, the illness caused by the virus, than adults.

Who will enforce the new recommendation that only people who are vaccinated go without masks?

Also unclear. The only way to know for sure whether someone is vaccinated is if the government, businesses or others require documentation. The Biden administration has been reluctant to go in that direction, and owners of restaurants, bars, gyms, movie theaters and other indoor venues naturally do not want to become the mask police.

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