I’m not saying it, the CDC is. If you are fully vaccinated, you don’t need to wear masks or social distance, except in those limited areas. I never said throw caution to the wind. Nobody has. That’s a talking point for preventing life from getting back to normal for some unknown reason. And again, I don’t personally believe it, but the narrative couldn’t embolden the far right any more because it fits the story that this isn’t about safety, but about control.
You quote the CDC in the above statement? I’m pretty sure that those are just your words, but if you have a site where the CDC uses that language, I’d love to see it.
Considering the fact that I pulled this straight from their most recent guidelines for the fully vaccinated, I don’t think they agree with you.
You should still watch out for symptoms of COVID-19, especially if you’ve been around someone who is sick. If you have symptoms of COVID-19, you should get tested and stay home and away from others.
Perhaps our confusion is over the definition of the words “completely unnecessary.” I’m pretty sure I have a good handle on what the words mean, both individually and as a phrase. What’s your definition?
Fair point. “Completely unnecessary” was an overstatement.
It’s all good. I’m just wary of shortcut statements that have a tendency to get tossed around and restated as fact, when reality is a bit more murky. Even the head of the CDC was recently guilty of this when she stated:
We’re vaccinating so very fast, our data from the CDC today suggests, you know, that vaccinated people do not carry the virus, don’t get sick, and that it’s not just in the clinical trials but it’s also in real world data.
The problem was that the study she referenced didn’t actually state that at all. The CDC spokespeople subsequently defended her statement as “speaking broadly”, which is fair, but it didn’t stop it from being quoted in the Breaking News thread as a factual statement.
I really like the way our local turkey farm store has handled the pandemic. Initially, they closed down to evaluate their situation. Later they reopened, but by appointment only, with appointments not overlapping. I’d make an appointment, tell them what I wanted (I know their stock pretty well), and show up to pay and pick up at the door.
Eventually they reopened with a limit on the number of shoppers at 4 and a hand sanitizing station at the door. No mask, forgetaboutit, take your business elsewhere.
Today, in response to CDC proclamations, they have a sign explaining that although the CDC has made certain recommendations, they are going to continue to require masks, although they will be reevaluating the situation weekly.
I am. They said to continue wearing masks in certain high rusk situations and when state and local regulations require it. Why do you think they included those exceptions? You are also reading something into that. You are reading “masks are completely unnecessary if you are vaccinated”. I’m reading “masks are only needed in higher-risk situations”, and also that local regulators ought to have the power to require masks? Why, just because they like power? I am reading that as a safety valve for other high risk situations
Look, the CDC has been horrible at communication from the start. They knew that masks don’t protect the wearer unless worn properly, and that masks were in short supply. Instead of saying that, they said, “don’t wear masks”. They knew that pretty much every effective vaccine reduces the spread of the disease it protects against, but weren’t certain how much protection the covid vaccines would give. So they said, “don’t trust the vaccines to protect others”. Hell, they grossly simplified the time it takes for the vaccines to be effective, but wanted a simple message so they said, “wait two weeks”. Now, they know that the vaccines are pretty good at protecting others, but instead of saying that, they are saying, “take off your masks”. I mean, to be fair, the CDC didn’t say that last one, the Biden administration did. But it’s still a grossly oversimplified message that, imo, is bad for public health. And yes, bad for the public’s trust of science.
Another example. I just mowed the lawn. It’s hot out. The ground is dusty, and there’s oak pollen everywhere. After breathing crap for about a minute, I turned off the lawnmower, went indoors to put on a mask (Stark’s), and then went out to finish mowing. Mowing with a mask was much less uncomfortable than without. Heck, i don’t even feel a need to blow my nose. I did after the first minute.
But this will always be true – COVID will never be beaten down to zero (IMHO). A year from today, in five years, in 20 years … vaccine + mask will always offer better COVID protection than vaccine alone.
And? The downside? I’m happy moving on and experiencing fewer colds, influenzas, etc.
Hate your mask? Don’t wear one!
Really what they’re saying is, in effect that vaccinated people aren’t at much risk for catching or spreading COVID with or without a mask (and if you do, it’s unlikely to be serious), and the unvaccinated are likely not wearing masks anyway. Therefore there’s not a lot of point in making the vaccinated people wear masks that aren’t doing anything at this point, other than hygiene theater.
Plus, there’s probably a non trivial element of trying to befuddle the stupid unvaccinated people into maybe thinking “Well, if I get my vaccine, I can quit wearing my mask!”
The frustrating part to me isn’t so much the letting vaccinated people do what they want, it’s the inability to actually DO anything coercive to make people either get vaccinated or wear masks. I mean, it should be one or the other, and there shouldn’t be an out by way of being a dipshit and screeching about “muh freedums!” But apparently it’s all lame penny-ante carrots, and no sticks whatsoever at this point.
The supermarket we frequent now has signs saying that fully-vaccinated customers no longer have to wear a mask. I still wore my mask today, as did everyone else in the store.
Guess I’m not the only person who doesn’t want to be mistaken for a Republican.
I thought about that too but then I thought that people might think I’m unvaccinated because I choose to wear a mask! Can’t win.
Yeah, that’s a big problem. How you deal with no masks depends on where you live. If I lived in Maine with a 50% vaccination rate I’m sure I’d feel a lot different about things than I do living in a county with a 27% rate. Hell, 99% of counties in the entire country are doing better than we are. The average daily cases haven’t changed for over a month. I certainly don’t see them dropping now that maskless fever has taken over. With community spread like we have, the small risk is of getting covid is greater. I don’t wear a mask hanging out with friends or eating outdoors but I’m not going to go back inside a store even with a mask until I see how this plays out. Which sucks because I had just started shopping again a few weeks ago. It’s back to delivery and curbside pickup.
Again, I just took that statement to mean that “We are giving this advice, but it doesn’t mean that you can disobey your local law if the powers that be disagree with us on this” and nothing more in depth than that. As neither of us are in the CDC, either one of our thoughts are probably just as good.
I agree with all of this. It is one thing to say “you don’t need masks” and then reverse yourself because of more data being collected and analyzed. But when you come out and say, about this and a couple of other things, that we really outright lied to you about stuff for other good reasons, it creates a lack of trust.
And IMHO, they missed a great opportunity to get the middlers vaccinated when they had the “get vaccinated, but nothing in your life will change” policy. Show people a tangible benefit to it. Yes, it SHOULD be good enough to do it to help your chances of not getting infected, but they kept up the “OMG you can still get infected!” narrative and people with short attention spans wonder why to bother.
All respect, and I mean that, but this is vastly overly cautious. I’ve never stopped going to open stores and when mask mandates were in, I wore them, when not, I didn’t. I think that is the experience of most people. Perhaps you have severe underlying health conditions, and that is none of my business, but as general advice, I don’t think anyone has ever advocated for that level of caution.
Again, respectfully, it borders on irrational fear similar to never riding in a car or airplane because of the fear of a crash or leaving your home because of crime.
you realize that the demand for delivery and curbside pickup has gone through the roof? Lots of people stopped shopping, or cut way back on shopping.
Are we talking supermarkets? That was developing before Covid because it is a huge convenience. If we are talking about food, same thing (convenience, not developing before Covid)–plus you can now get booze delivered with your meal. That was always an untapped market.
Uh, around me, there was essentially no delivery from supermarkets, and no one did curbside pickup. I looked into delivery, and decided I ought to leave the few precious slots for older people at higher risk. Now there’s lots of capacity.
The local garden shop didn’t let anyone indoors due to covid. You called them from your car, and they’d bring stuff out. They never did that before. For that matter, the owner stopped carrying live plants, because HE would have to go into someone else’s shop to pick them up.
We are all influenced by those around us.
I gather you live someplace where no one is taking covid terribly seriously. I live someplace where most of the shops stopped letting customers indoors, even in the winter, and in the rain. People waited in an awkwardly spaced line outside the hardware store.
Frankly, I didn’t trust the CDC when they said not to wear masks (I bought several then, a few of which panned out) and I don’t trust them now. Personally, when everyone in my household is fully vaccinated, THEN I will feel safe removing my mask, and hanging out with other people who aren’t wearing masks. Until then, I’d rather not risk a mild infection that might kill one of my loved ones. My friends with little kids are all upset about the great unmasking, because it will be months before their households can be vaccinated. (My reading is that kids aren’t at much risk, but people tend to be protective of their kids.)
I really don’t think the CDC said, “and when required by law” just because they didn’t want to encourage people to break the law. “don’t break the law” isn’t medical advice. I think they said it because local laws can react to local risks. But we shall see if they clarify.
I do surveys weekly for the grocery store chain where I shop. I get coupons and various rewards like cheaper gas.
They are constantly wanting my opinion on curbside/home delivery. How important? What would you pay? Would you do a yearly subscription? They’re seeing it as a permanent thing.
That’s true. In my county, we have 76% partially vaccinated, 60% fully vaccinated. That makes me feel pretty safe.
Really? I think that’s a bit of an over-reaction. We’re talking about shopping here. Maybe you somehow missed this but a lot of people did pickup/delivery for the last year. I was one of them. And I don’t think it’s irrational to again stay out of stores for awhile and see how the situation here unfolds. Sure it was nice to shop again but it’s not a big deal for me to forgo it a little longer. If the unvaccinated unmasked morons breathing on each other don’t make the numbers go up, I’ll reconsider my position. Meanwhile, at least my friends and I are part of the 27% vaccinated and can all be together again (in our houses 
). That’s more important than shopping.