As more Americans are vaccinated – and more evidence, though still unconvincing, it appears that the COVID-19 vaccines are more likely to inhibit the spread of the coronavirus – it feels like the light at the end of the proverbial tunnel is near.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has relaxed its guidelines for social distance and mask wear so that fully vaccinated people can gather in small groups unmasked. (There are some caveats: if you are under pressure or older, hold indoor meetings first, even if you have been vaccinated.)
A CDC study among health workers and first-rate reactions in the United States – some of the most exposed to COVID-19 – found that infections, including asymptomatic infections that could lead to transmission, were reduced by 90% after vaccination. while other global studies have found a large reduction in transmission.
CDC director Rochelle Walensky also said in an interview that data indicates that vaccinated people do not carry the virus.
“These findings should offer hope for the millions of Americans who receive COVID-19 vaccines every day, and for those who will have the opportunity to roll up their sleeves and take them in the coming weeks,” Walensky said at the time. (It is said that some medical experts paid attention to the remarks, and the CDC issued a statement emphasizing that evidence is unconvincing.)
Days earlier, Walensky had also warned of an impending downturn as business gradually increased during the previous week. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country’s leading expert on infectious diseases, blamed the increase in increasing travel and relaxation restrictions by leaders in states such as Texas, Michigan and Iowa.
B.1.1.7, a particularly contagious strain of the virus from the United Kingdom, is the most common in the United States – and it appears to infect children and young adults at a higher rate.
With all this in mind, experts who spoke with SFGATE said that for a variety of reasons, you should still wear a mask when you are in the public environment.
As UCSF expert on infectious diseases dr. Monica Gandhi puts it, you still need to wear a mask to fulfill your social contract with your neighbor.
“The idea that we will all be wearing masks in public for a short time may be significant to some people,” Gandhi said. “But I consider it a polite thing to do.”
As she thinks about it, there are still many people in the world who could not get the vaccine, especially not in California. “We’re in the twilight zone,” Gandhi said. “We could not all be vaccinated.”
A passenger wears a face mask while traveling on a Delta Airlines flight on Wednesday, February 3, 2021.
Charlie Riedel / Associated PressThe problem is exacerbated by vaccine inequalities – in California, Black and Latino residents are less vaccinated than other groups. A USC study also found that Latino and Black Californians are more likely to die from the virus.
She admits that some people, whether anti-masks who want to take off their face masks after the vaccination, or anti-waxxers who refuse to get the chance, will be dissatisfied with her pleas for good manners.
“It’s almost rude that some of us can run around shot free, and some of us have to wear a face mask, so I think that’s how I frame it, and I’ll be criticized for that.”
But perhaps it’s worth noting that she can follow this approach because people in the Bay and specifically San Francisco get the vaccine at higher doses compared to the rest of the state or even the state of California. A recent report found that 79% of Bay Area residents who have not been vaccinated will consider getting the vaccine; these numbers are rising in San Francisco, and 93% of residents are likely to be vaccinated.
Compare the numbers with the state and country: A poll by the Public Policy Institute of California found that 61% of Californians got or decided to get vaccinated; a poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that 62% of Americans would definitely get the vaccine.
University of New Haven professor of biomedical engineering Kagya Amoako also says it’s worth wearing a mask after vaccination, but it takes a slightly different method.
“If you come in public and in large crowds, you must still wear your mask,” he said, “even if you are fully vaccinated because you do not know who is in the crowd and you do not know what risks experienced if they were to get COVID. ”
Amoako says it is worthwhile to approach the COVID-19 transfer to the vaccine more carefully.
“If we get the data, people will feel more comfortable with it,” he said. “If you are fully vaccinated, you will probably not transmit the virus to other people.”
He points out that a trial currently supported by the National Institutes of Health is currently underway to determine whether the vaccines, specifically the Moderna version, will help stop the transmission of the coronavirus.
Like Gandhi, he understands the frustration of staying in the ‘pandemic environment’ for more than a year.
But for him, the idea of wearing masks after vaccination is going to stay patient until more people are vaccinated – and cases are starting to decrease significantly as new breeds start to emerge.
“We’re almost there, right, we’m almost there and we just have to stay a little longer,” he said. “Soon, the number of people receiving a vaccine will rise very rapidly and approach the herd immunity, right, and there will be more safety from that.”
He also pointed to the pandemic exhaustion and too lax restrictions as a major reason to keep mask mandates in place for the time being.
“The weather is getting warmer and … people are getting tired. They want to be out, ”he said. ‘And so I think … people are getting impatient, so we just need to speed up the vaccination. That’s a year ago and the message was very consistent. But states and individuals choose to do what they want. ”
While Gandhi, UCSF’s infectious disease expert, previously backed down on Walensky’s comments on the COVID-19 peak, Gandhi acknowledges that she can make these statements because the region in which she lives and works is ahead of the vaccinations.
“I actually think it would be really hard to be a CDC director because you want people to know to be careful,” Gandhi said of her previous comments on Walensky. “But the way you convey a message can be more on the side of fear, because you want to be careful.”
“I’m going to favor the vaccine optimism in my own messages,” she said, pointing to her background working through the HIV / Aids epidemic. “As a doctor, I can encourage the intake of vaccines, so I’m happy I can do it.”
Amoako also says that vaccines are an integral part of ending the pandemic. “What we have control over is taking out a lot of vaccines, and then you have to convince those who do not want to take the vaccine,” he said. “It’s a completely different animal.”
Both Gandhi and Amoako say it will be worthwhile to re-evaluate this policy in the coming months, especially as vaccine admission opens up more widely. In California, everyone over the age of 16 will be eligible from April 15. President Joe Biden has just announced that from April 19, everyone over the age of 16 will be eligible.
The issue will certainly come up again on June 15, the day Governor Gavin Newsom plans to ‘fully reopen’ the state – with a masked mandate likely intact.
A mandate by a politician or public health [official] wearing a face mask once everyone has had a vaccine will offer a lot of resistance, ‘Gandhi said.
But for now, keep your masks on hand – and do not be a fool.