The recommendations also say that vaccinated people can be united in the same way – in a single household – with people considered at low risk of severe illness, as in the case of vaccinated grandparents who visit healthy children and grandchildren.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced the guidelines on Monday.
The guidelines are designed to meet a growing demand as more adults have been vaccinated and wonder if it gives them more freedom to visit family members, travel, or do other things as they did before the COVID pandemic. -19 to sweep the world last year. .
“With more and more people being vaccinated every day, we’re starting to turn the corner,” said CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky.
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During a press conference on Monday, she called the guidance “the first step” towards restoring normalcy in the way people come together. She said more activities would be good for vaccinated people as the number of cases and deaths is reduced, more Americans will be vaccinated, and as more science emerges about the ability of those who have been vaccinated to get vaccinated. and spread the virus.
The CDC continues to recommend that fully vaccinated people still wear well-fitted masks, avoid large meetings, and physically distance themselves from others when in public. The CDC also recommended that vaccinated individuals be tested for symptoms that may be related to COVID-19.
The CDC did not talk to people who could get a certain level of immunity from being infected and recovering from coronavirus.
Officials say a person is considered fully vaccinated two weeks after receiving the last required dose of vaccine. About 31 million Americans – or just about 9 percent of the U.S. population – have been completely vaccinated with a federally authorized COVID-19 vaccine so far, according to the CDC.
Authorized vaccine doses first became available in December and were products that required two doses a few weeks apart. But since January, a small but growing number of Americans have been completely vaccinated and asked questions like: Do I still need to wear a mask? Can I go to a bar now? Can I finally see my grandchildren?
The guide was “welcome news for a nation that is understood to be 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 interim director of the CDC.
“I hope that these new guidelines give everyone the impetus to be 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. communiqué.
Some, however, said the guidelines were too cautious.
Dr. Ali Khan, dean of the College of Public Health at the University of Nebraska, said the guidance is reasonable in many ways – except for travel.
The CDC has not changed its travel recommendations, which discourages unnecessary travel and requires testing within a few days of travel. This may seem confusing to vaccinated people hoping to visit family across the country or abroad.
“They need to relax travel for those vaccinated,” and immediately publish electronic standards for documents showing whether a person is fully vaccinated, said Khan, who was previously a CDC senior detective.
The new guideline also says nothing about going to restaurants or other places, even though governors lift business restrictions, said Dr. Leana Wen, an emergency physician and professor of public health at George Washington University who was previously commissioner for Baltimore health.
Wen said the CDC should have prepared some kind of post-vaccination guidance in January, when some people started finishing their second dose. And he called the guidance that came out on Monday “too cautious.”
“The CDC lacks a major opportunity to link vaccination status with the reopening guide. By coming out with such limited guidance, they lack the window to influence national and state policies,” Wen said in an email.
But some people who are completely vaccinated have been thrilled by Monday’s news.
Ruth Michienzi was among those who received the second and final dose of vaccine at a pharmacy in the Stop and Shop supermarket in Woburn, Massachusetts, on Monday morning.
The 91-year-old resident of nearby Burlington said it was good to continue wearing a face mask in public and follow other safety guidelines even after being fully vaccinated.
But Michienzi also said that she is delighted to be able to take off her mask in front of the three great-grandchildren. He has seen them in person since receiving his first shot about a month ago, but he has kept his mask on.
“I hope he remembers me,” she said.
“I’ve been doing all this for a year and I don’t want that year to be wasted,” Michienzi said of safety regulations. “I think it’s smart to wait.”
A couple of customers, who were not in line to receive shots, however, openly expressed concern about the ongoing restrictions and expressed fears that stricter warrants for travel and socialization would follow, albeit more many are vaccinated.
Grace McShane, 61, of Melrose, also received her second dose on Monday in the same supermarket.
She says she qualified for the vaccine because she has a high risk, including having a heart attack last year. The home caregiver said she was okay with the continued restrictions, even after she was vaccinated.
“Even if you’re vaccinated, it’s better to be safe than sorry. This is the new normal. It’s part of life and you just have to adapt to it,” McShane said.
She said she is looking forward to hugging her three grandchildren without the need to wear a mask. Her older children were also vaccinated as essential workers, she said.
“Just hug and hug them,” McShane said. – That’s all I want to do.
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Associated Press reporters Phil Marcelo of Boston and Zeke Miller of Washington contributed to the report.
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