Baby Steps for the CDC
- Dr. Stephen Smith
- Mar 9, 2021
- 2 min read
The CDC yesterday issued its first set of Covid public health guidelines for fully vaccinated people (FVP), defined as 2 or more weeks after receiving the 2nd dose of either RNA vaccine (Moderna or Pfizer) or the 1st (and only) dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
To give the CDC credit, something I have not done in a while, they now say FVP can:
· “Visit with other fully vaccinated people indoors without wearing masks or physical distancing
· Visit with unvaccinated people from a single household who are at low risk for severe COVID-19 disease indoors without wearing masks or physical distancing
· Refrain from quarantine and testing following a known exposure if asymptomatic”
That’s the good news.
Here’s the continued absurdity –
The CDC also recommends that FVP should continue to:
· “Take precautions in public like wearing a well-fitted mask and physical distancing
· Wear masks, practice physical distancing, and adhere to other prevention measures when visiting with unvaccinated people who are at increased risk for severe COVID-19 disease or who have an unvaccinated household member who is at increased risk for severe COVID-19 disease
· Wear masks, maintain physical distance, and practice other prevention measures when visiting with unvaccinated people from multiple households
· Avoid medium- and large-sized in-person gatherings”
Well, the first set of recommendations are welcomed and better late than never. We have known for several weeks that FVP do not asymptomatically spread the disease (that theory btw was insane). We have known for several months that FVP rarely get infected. The second set of recommendations call for FVP to continue to wear masks in many situations, you know, just because we need more absurdity.
Of course, the two sets of recommendations are contradictory. FVP should not wear masks in any situation, not just these strange few. The CDC does not explain the reasons for conflicting recommendations. Of course, masks have not been proven block the spread of Covid. We know that masks do not protect the wearer. The theory that asymptotically infected people will spread the virus less if they wear a mask is a bad theory.
More importantly and this is why I rant about masks still, in Jersey, everyone was wearing masks in November and December when the second wave hit. And the second wave was much bigger than the first. Everyone was wearing masks, but more and more people were back to work and socializing, albeit whilst wearing a mask. In short, the false sense of protection people had from mask wearing most probably contributed to the large, second wave. That's what pisses me off a lot...actually, it's much worse than pissing me off. It's not fun to see people die.
BUT at least the CDC has mentioned using two masks as they did just 3 weeks ago.
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