Hours later Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a new guide that opens the door to vaccinated people Covid-19 excludes the use of masks even when distributed indoors, by the Secretary-General for Health, Carlos Mellado, was not adamant about the local government’s position on announcing a new executive order this week.
Mellado stated that, from his individual perspective, he considered that the use of masks should be further generalized.
“I do not want (the CDC guide) to be a subterfuge or an incentive to stop wearing a mask. Once we are vaccinated, we must continue to use the mask, because it is the strategy to protect people who are not vaccinated until we get immunity from the herd, “Mellado said.
The Minister of Health pointed out that, although the CDC recommendation refers to groups of people in which each individual has completed the vaccination cycle, in practice it is unlikely to be certain that this is the case in a given space.
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Although it is true that vaccinated people have a very low probability of showing any symptoms if they become infected, there is no certainty at the time of the risk of transmission that it represents for people with whom they come into close contact.
However, Mellado hesitated when asked what recommendation he would make to the governor Pedro Pierluisi, which intends to announce a new executive order on Thursday to replace the decree that expires this Sunday.
“We are following specific guidelines. What I wanted to emphasize is that the education process must continue. We will talk about it, remember that this news just came from us entering the door. From my point of view, this can be confusing. We will analyze it. If we are all vaccinated, it is very unlikely that anyone will get sick. Using the mask, because I don’t have a tattoo that says “I have a vaccine,” I won’t know […] Under this premise, if you ask me, I would use the mask. We will analyze this and generate protocols that we will make public “, said Mellado.
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“We have to analyze it because only an hour ago (I found out). That’s what epidemiologists and doctors are for, everyone, to decide what we will do “, the doctor answered.
Mellado, as a last resort, agreed that the government should maintain the “chanting” so that the public could continue to exercise precautions, including the use of masks in public places.
“If tomorrow we say that Vieques and Culebra do not use masks (because a large proportion of their adult population will have been vaccinated), the answer is no. Until there is a single Covid patient hospitalized here, we will continue to use a mask even if everyone is vaccinated. This is the position of the Department of Health, “said Mellado.
In Puerto Rico, at present, 567,813 vaccines have been administered, of which 356,436 correspond to the first dose and 211,377 to the second dose.
Mellado and Adjutant General al National Guard, Jose Reyes, stressed that this week the second phase of vaccination will begin for the population of the islands of Vieques and Culebra.
The military explained that in the first phase, 3,800 people were vaccinated in Vieques, while another 4,600 will receive the first dose this week. In the case of Culebra, 1,200 people were inoculated in the first round, so there are still 400 inhabitants who would start their cycle these days.