CDC now says the fully vaccinated can go unmasked!

[ChezCheese:)]

That is a welcome announcement! We can get back to being human again. However, I think there will be an interrem period of time as society switches over. For instance, yesterday, I couldn't go to the supermarket without a mask, but today, presumably I can. I'm not going to test this right away. How does this affect the unvaccinated? How does this affect you?

 

[Mr. Coffee]

That is a welcome announcement! We can get back to being human again. However, I think there will be an interrem period of time as society switches over. For instance, yesterday, I couldn't go to the supermarket without a mask, but today, presumably I can. I'm not going to test this right away. How does this affect the unvaccinated? How does this affect you?

Remember that is CDC guidance, and in most places whether you have to be masked up in a supermarket is determined by the state or local government.

Because you can't tell by looking at people whether they are vaccinated, this isn't likely to make a huge difference in most cases where you are indoors. If your workplace requires everyone to be vaccinated before coming to work that means you probably don't need to wear a mask at work, though.

 

[JRA]

Although I am fully vaccinated my understanding is I can still contract Covid but just to a lesser extent that won't need hospitalization and can still transmit the disease if I do contract it. CDC still recommends indoor use of masks although outdoors has always felt somewhat safe to me as long as social distancing is observed. Not throwing away my masks yet.

Edit: OK, just saw the newest update that they say indoors is ok now.....still going to be cautious but do wonder how you will know if someone without a mask is vaccinated or just happy to be able to go without a mask and flaunting the issue? Without any way to tell and people already faking vaccine cards that is going to be iffy.

 

[6zfshdb]

I made a trip to Walmart this morning after reading the latest CDC advisory. Most were still wearing masks but there were the usual few that weren't. Even though I'm fully vaccinated, I will continue to wear a mask for the near future.

 

[MikeDD]

Not in Washington State. We will not move forward. Our governor wears a mask outdoors at all times.

 

[J.R.]

Just my opinion, but I think it's time for personal responsibility. We shut down, distanced and masked everywhere for the public good. I'm vaccinated and I continued to wear a mask indoors. Locally we have a high percentage of vaccinations, low infection rate and deaths. It's time for people that are most vulnerable or fearful to take the precautions they need to, to feel safe and let the general population live a more normal life.

That's not a heartless position. I have lost people I care about in this pandemic. Family and friends. I've also lost someone to suicide, an indirect casualty of the pandemic. I read about the growing numbers of depression, drug abuse, alcoholism and the deaths associated with that. Obesity has skyrocketed. For the public good it's time to live, work, play and socialize again.

 

[ChezCheese:)]

Not in Washington State. We will not move forward. Our governor wears a mask outdoors at all times.

Actually, Gov Inslee welcomed the CDC announcement. It doesn't mean that everything will be instantly open at full capacity, but in a couple of weeks, I'm thinking things will be a lot more open than they have been. New cases in the US are down 31% over the past 14 days.

 

[Mr. Coffee]

Just my opinion, but I think it's time for personal responsibility. ... Locally we have a high percentage of vaccinations, low infection rate and deaths. I

Here is where it gets complicated.

While overall the vaccination program has gone extremely well, there are a lot of areas that still have very low levels of vaccinations. The worst probably are certain tribal areas in South Dakota, where vaccination rates so far are under 2 percent. And if you dig around in the data there are a great many counties (mostly rural) with vaccination rates below twenty percent. If you lived in one of those areas I'd recommend wearing a mask when around others, vaccinated or not.

So I'm just saying that I don't see a one-size-fits-all solution.

"Personal responsibility" only works when the consequences are strictly personal as well. Since there probably is a pretty substantial population that can't take the vaccine for medical reasons (although the contraindications with regards to vaccination will change over time as we learn more, and since these vaccines are so very new we are rightly rather conservative in who can get them) when someone makes a personal choice to not wear a mask they are also endangering others.

We have a huge "collective action problem" in our society, to the point when we are faced with any problem that is going to require working together to fix (e.g. a pandemic, climate change) you can immediately expect that a mob of gaslighters will emerge telling us why the problem isn't real. So if there ever was an honest-to-god crisis that required us to work together for our very survival I think we'd all die.

For the record I am still wearing a mask indoors where it is required, and at the same time I still am avoiding crowded areas (though not so diligently as I did in the past) and will likely stick to takeout and outdoor dining for the time being.

 

[WattsUpDude]

My wife and I are fully vaccinated and will continue to wear a mask indoors. I am happy that I no longer have to wear it while I'm bike commuting since I wear glasses and the fog gets dangerous. I have two toddlers that can't get the vaccine yet so I need to continue to be careful for their sake.

 

[J.R.]

Here is where it gets complicated.

While overall the vaccination program has gone extremely well, there are a lot of areas that still have very low levels of vaccinations. The worst probably are certain tribal areas in South Dakota, where vaccination rates so far are under 2 percent. And if you dig around in the data there are a great many counties (mostly rural) with vaccination rates below twenty percent. If you lived in one of those areas I'd recommend wearing a mask when around others, vaccinated or not.

So I'm just saying that I don't see a one-size-fits-all solution.

"Personal responsibility" only works when the consequences are strictly personal as well. Since there probably is a pretty substantial population that can't take the vaccine for medical reasons (although the contraindications with regards to vaccination will change over time as we learn more, and since these vaccines are so very new we are rightly rather conservative in who can get them) when someone makes a personal choice to not wear a mask they are also endangering others.

We have a huge "collective action problem" in our society, to the point when we are faced with any problem that is going to require working together to fix (e.g. a pandemic, climate change) you can immediately expect that a mob of gaslighters will emerge telling us why the problem isn't real. So if there ever was an honest-to-god crisis that required us to work together for our very survival I think we'd all die.

For the record I am still wearing a mask indoors where it is required, and at the same time I still am avoiding crowded areas (though not so diligently as I did in the past) and will likely stick to takeout and outdoor dining for the time being.

There's a tipping point, a point of imbalance that we are either there or close to. Between the vaccine and available treatments there comes a time when the indirect casualties are greater than direct casualties. For instance substance addiction. I have a very close friend who's a counselor at a rehab near Washington DC. Everything has changed in treatment and the usual small success rate has bottomed out to single digits. The associated deaths are so high and few media outlets report these numbers. Treatment for these addicts requires a community, personal interactions and support. Rehabs have been either closed or locked down. It doesn't work that way.

Mental health patients are isolated in lockdown. Old folks are dying alone without family. Depression is rampant and the will to live for many has been taken away. The BBC recently reported about the rise of alcoholism in the UK as a direct result of lockdowns. General health of people is down across the board.

People out of work with no benefits. Evictions. Children that go hungry as a result of food programs in schools and churches being forced to close down.

If a person is secure where they live, if they are secure financially and they are relatively healthy in mind and body; if they have the support of family and friends they often feel comfortable with restrictions for 'just a little longer'. No media outlet or government agency is compiling lists of people that did not contract covid 19, but died as an indirect cause of the pandemic. There's no way to estimate how many could be saved this summer if we start to get back to normal. According to people I know in the trenches, it's time.

 

[Bitmugger]

We'll be wearing our masks indoors until we reach some level of country-wide herd immunity or general "all clear" signal for everyone to stop. (Note Canada not the US)

Even so I hope people will wear masks if they get a cold or flu in the future.

 

[tomjasz]

A message from my 94-year-old mother's care facility this morning indicated they are going back into lockdown with a new rash of infections.

It ain't over till it's over....

 

[Cowlitz]

Personal responsibility is a joke in our society. It is a phrase used only for blame and when convenient.

Our county is putting along getting new cases every day. Don't know how severe, it is just a count of people testing positive. The Walmarche still requires masks as do the grocery stores.

Google Republic, WA outbreak to see how easy it is to go from no cases to many.

 

[J.R.]

Personal responsibility is a joke in our society. It is a phrase used only for blame and when convenient.

Our county is putting along getting new cases every day. Don't know how severe, it is just a count of people testing positive. The Walmarche still requires masks as do the grocery stores.

Google Republic, WA outbreak to see how easy it is to go from no cases to many.

I've found the people in my county to be responsible, respectful and pragmatic. We've had below average infections and deaths; above average vaccinations. One thing I've personally found helpful getting through this far in the pandemic is I cancelled cable TV in January of 2020. I go to the sources for non partisan truths about the pandemic, without the cable news (right or left) slant. I'm surrounded by the public in my work so I see real life examples of the effects of the pandemic. I have friends and family in healthcare. I've found most people to be responsible.

 

[Alaskan]

Not in Washington State. We will not move forward. Our governor wears a mask outdoors at all times.

A good learning opportunity. When you are too eager to criticize someone and jump right on it without allowing time for a measured response, you get made a fool of. If you had waited a mere five hours you might have been able to read this and kept your powder dry for some other shot,

Washington state to lift COVID restrictions by June 30; right now, mask rules eased for vaccinated people

Washington is set to lift the state's broad COVID-19 restrictions by June 30, and possibly sooner if enough people get vaccinated before then, Gov. Jay Inslee announced Thursday.

www.seattletimes.com

 

[Widgets]

Just rember it is an experimental treatment that has been given approval for emergency usage based upon preliminary studies that show more benefits than harm. Is it really safe, only time will tell. Right now, we all volunteered to be part of the experiment. At some point, it will be accepted as safe and given approval for use, or it will banned and the experiment stopped.

The big problem is that in the US, the leadership chose to play politics instead of work together. The party not in control resisted every effort by the party in control. The people were told not to trust the "vaccine" because of the party in control, then the same politicians said the "vaccine" was safe. Now the parties in control have swapped, the policies stay the same, but we are told they are different. Our political leaders need to stop playing politics and start doing their jobs, but that won't guarantee them to stay in office and line their pockets. So it is business as usual, and we all loose.

 

[Alaskan]

Just rember it is an experimental treatment that has been given approval for emergency usage based upon preliminary studies that show more benefits than harm. Is it really safe, only time will tell. Right now, we all volunteered to be part of the experiment. At some point, it will be accepted as safe and given approval for use, or it will banned and the experiment stopped.

The big problem is that in the US, the leadership chose to play politics instead of work together. The party not in control resisted every effort by the party in control. The people were told not to trust the "vaccine" because of the party in control, then the same politicians said the "vaccine" was safe. Now the parties in control have swapped, the policies stay the same, but we are told they are different. Our political leaders need to stop playing politics and start doing their jobs, but that won't guarantee them to stay in office and line their pockets. So it is business as usual, and we all loose.

Total false equivalency. Time to step up and make a choice.

One party is betting you will buy their lies...and in too many cases they are right. They start with the assumption that government can't do anything right and then set about to prove just that.

The other party has thus far let science take the lead, has set ambitious goals for public health, and has actually surpassed those goals.

How can a reasonable person equate the two?

 

[Mr. Coffee]

Just rember it is an experimental treatment that has been given approval for emergency usage based upon preliminary studies that show more benefits than harm. Is it really safe, only time will tell. Right now, we all volunteered to be part of the experiment. At some point, it will be accepted as safe and given approval for use, or it will banned and the experiment stopped.

Well, they have only studied mRNA vaccines for other purposes (mainly cancer treatments) for thirty years. So yes it is a very new treatment but it has been studied for a long time, with clinical trials of other mRNA vaccines (mostly for melanoma) going back several years.

I agree that there is a possibility of long-term effects, but that possibility isn't very large. So far these vaccines have not just proven to be safe, but to be extraordinarily safe. Your odds of dying of covid are approximately one thousand times higher than dying from this vaccine.

 

[Alaskan]

It will be sunny and near 70 today. I am going out for a ride in two hours. I hope to be in a better mood upon my return.

 

[Gordon71]

Time to use the ignore button yet one more time. I don't come here to get riled up.

It will be sunny and near 70 today. I am going out for a ride in two hours. I hope to be in a better mood upon my return.

Me too. My battery is charging as we speak and it's sunny and 70. Very rare to be that warm this time of the year so YAY!