People enjoy themselves in Bryant Park in New York, May 14
WASHINGTON, May 15 (NNN-Xinhua) — The latest decision by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to free fully vaccinated people from its mask guidance in most indoor and outdoor settings has set off a scramble across the United States to update local rules and adjust social norms.
“Major corporations and local shopkeepers weighed whether to take down ‘masks-required’ signs on their doors. People heading to the office or coffee shop or grocery store had to navigate rapidly shifting scientific advice and government restrictions,” The New York Times said in its report.
Surprised state and local officials, including some who withstood months of protests and lawsuits to keep mask orders in place, said they needed time to evaluate the new federal guidance, it added.
The CDC on Thursday announced vaccinated Americans can mostly stop wearing masks indoors, leaving “some wondering how businesses and public venues would follow the new guidance, given just 35.8 percent of the American population is fully vaccinated and the only way of proving you’ve been immunized is the CDC’s vaccine card, which can be forged,” reported American business magazine Forbes.
A host of states have already moved to ease their mask mandates in accordance with the CDC’s new guidelines, including Illinois, Kentucky, Washington, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Oregon and Minnesota; businesses like Home Depot, Kroger and Starbucks announced they would keep their policies requiring employees and customers to wear masks for now; Delta said that it will require new employees to get vaccinated, according to the report.
Leana Wen, a visiting professor of health policy and management at George Washington University, criticized the CDC for moving too quickly with its updated mask guidance. The CDC’s “announcement would be very welcome if not for one big problem,” Wen wrote in a Washington Post op-ed.
“There is no concurrent requirement for proof of vaccination. Without it, the CDC announcement could end up increasing confusion, removing incentives for those yet to be inoculated and delaying the eventual goal of herd immunity that would get society truly back to normal,” added Wen.
CDC Director Rochelle Walensky told a White House briefing on Thursday that “Anyone who is fully vaccinated can participate in indoor and outdoor activities, large or small, without wearing a mask or physical distancing.”
“If you are fully vaccinated, you can start doing the things that you had stopped doing because of the pandemic,” she said. “We have all longed for this moment when we can get back to some sense of normalcy.”
Meanwhile, the requirement to wear masks during travel — on buses, trains, planes and public transportation — still stands, Walensky said, and the guidance for travel will be updated as science emerges. Even vaccinated individuals must cover their faces and physically distance when going to doctors, hospitals or long-term care facilities like nursing homes.
“The past year has shown us that this virus can be unpredictable, so if things get worse, there is always a chance we may need to make a change to these recommendations,” said Walensky.
“Today is a great day for America,” U.S. President Joe Biden said during a Rose Garden address heralding the new guidance on Thursday, an event where he and his staff went without masks.
“If you are fully vaccinated, you no longer need to wear a mask,” he said, summarizing the new guidance and encouraging more Americans to get the shot. “Get vaccinated — or wear a mask until you do.”
According to official figures, as of Wednesday, about 154 million people in the United States have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, but only about one-third of the nation, some 117.6 million people, have been fully vaccinated. — NNN-XINHUA
