COVID travel: CDC says fully vaccinated people can travel at low risk
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said people who have been fully vaccinated for COVID-19 can travel safely, but still recommend staying home.
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An indoor event celebrating a pub opening in rural Illinois has been linked to a COVID-19 outbreak that resulted in 46 cases and a school closure that affected 650 students, according to a study for Disease Centers and prevention published Monday.
Following an investigation by the Illinois Department of Public Health, the incident in February involved cases involving 26 customers and three staff members, leading to 17 additional cases.
The CDC director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, during an information session in the White House on Monday, said the bar was showing signs that encouraged the use of mask and social distance, but according to reports, patrons are inconsistent in wearing masks and maintaining a safe distance.
“It feels just like Groundhog Day in that we see a new boom that is really attributed to the same things that contributed to the first boom,” says Dr. Sadiya Khan, an epidemiologist and assistant professor of medicine at the North-West University Feinberg School. of medicine. “It’s like we repeat the same exact mistakes over and over again at intervals.”
The Illinois Department of Public Health discovered that one of the customers who attended the event was asymptomatic but received a confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis a day before attending.
Another participant exposed more than two dozen people to the virus during the class and held a sports exercise indoors. The exposure resulted in two student athletes testing positive and 13 staff members being quarantined, forcing school officials to send 650 children home and close the school for two weeks.
Another participant in the event, who worked at a long-term care facility, exposed co-workers and residents and infected COVID-19 with one staff member and two residents. One of the residents was admitted to the hospital and discharged the same day. All staff members and residents who tested positive for COVID-19 were offered the vaccine but not vaccinated.
“These findings highlight the huge impact of a single event affecting communities, schools, families and fragile seniors,” Walensky said during Monday’s briefing. “It highlights the impressive transmissibility of this virus and the continuing need for low prevention strategies.”
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There are likely to be more cases involved in the outbreak that may not have been reported, the CDC says, as there are an estimated 40% to 45% of infections.
Khan understands the desire for restaurants and pubs to open as usual, as the industry has suffered the biggest financial blows during the pandemic, but ‘we are not there yet.’
Indoor eateries are still a source of potential spread and customers should continue to wear a mask, social distance and choose outside where possible to reduce the risk of transmission, she said.
“I understand that people are tired and that they are ready for this pandemic, just like me,” Walensky said. “Continue to hang in there and to continue with the things we know prevent the spread of the virus.”
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