[TVARC] From CDC Today

[WA1UTQ]

Fully vaccinated Americans can do away with wearing masks, the head of the
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday in the most
significant shift in federal guidelines since the start of the pandemic.

"Anyone who is fully vaccinated can participate in indoor or outdoor
activities, large or small, without wearing a mask or physical distancing,"
CDC chief Rochelle Walensky said at a White House news briefing. "If you are
fully vaccinated, you can start doing the things that you had stopped doing
because of the pandemic. We have all longed for this moment when we can get
back to some sense of normalcy."

Walensky didn't immediately specify any exceptions, but signaled masks are
still required in some circumstances, like cross-border travel.


About 59% of American adults have received at least one shot, and the
COVID-19 vaccine made by Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE was cleared for use in
children ages 12 to 15 years old this week. New daily COVID-19 cases,
meanwhile, have been declining for weeks. Still, the pace of vaccinations
has slowed, raising concerns about whether hesitancy will impede widespread
protection in the population.

President Joe Biden has set a goal of 70% of adult Americans receiving at
least one vaccine shot by July 4.

Masks Outdoors

The most recent CDC mask guidance came in late April, when federal health
officials said fully vaccinated Americans could drop their masks when
exercising, dining and socializing outdoors in small groups, as well as when
gathering indoors with other fully vaccinated people.

The CDC considers someone fully vaccinated two weeks after their final dose
-- either two weeks after the second dose of vaccines from Moderna Inc. or
Pfizer, or two weeks after receiving the single-shot Johnson & Johnson
vaccine.

Some Republican senators pressed CDC Director Rochelle Walensky on the
agency's guidance for fully vaccinated people at a hearing Tuesday, with
Senator Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican, expressing concern about the
pace at which CDC was releasing recommendations.

"The American people have just lost patience with us, with you guys,"
Cassidy said. "I just ask you to kind of be aware of their frustration and
get a little real time into updating these things."

Biden has steadily delivered a more optimistic tone on the pandemic, while
warning regularly that the U.S. isn't yet out of the woods. He has launched
what he calls a "new phase" of the vaccination program, which emphasizes
rural clinics, pharmacies and mobile sites instead of mass vaccination
clinics, as demand begins to dry up.

He is scheduled to deliver remarks on the COVID-19 response and the
vaccination program later this afternoon.

 

TVARC In-person meetings?






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