PHOTO | TRAVIS LONG

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on March 8 released new guidance for people fully inoculated against COVID-19 to resume regular activities based on the latest scientific evidence.

If you’re fully vaccinated against COVID-19, it’s OK to resume more regular activities.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on March 8 issued recommendations for activities that the inoculated can safely resume based on the latest science. The guidance includes recommendations for how and when a fully vaccinated individual can visit other people who are fully vaccinated and people who are not.

CDC will update the guidance as more people are vaccinated, COVID-19 rates change, and more scientific evidence becomes available.

“We know that people want to get vaccinated so they can get back to doing the things they enjoy with the people they love,” CDC Director Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky said. “There are some activities that fully vaccinated people can begin to resume now in their own homes. Everyone – even those who are vaccinated – should continue with all mitigation strategies when in public settings. As the science evolves and more people get vaccinated, we will continue to provide more guidance to help fully vaccinated people safely resume more activities.”

CDC is encouraging people to get vaccinated with the first available FDA-approved vaccine to help bring the pandemic to a close by preventing serious COVID-19 illness, hospitalization, and death. A growing body of evidence suggests that fully vaccinated people are less likely to have asymptomatic infection and transmit the virus that causes COVID-19 to others. Therefore, fully vaccinated people can safely take fewer precautions in certain situations.

CDC’s guidance today recommends that fully vaccinated people can:

• Visit with other fully vaccinated people indoors without wearing masks or social distancing.

• Visit with unvaccinated people from one other household indoors without wearing masks or staying 6 feet apart if everyone in the other household is at low risk for severe disease.

• Refrain from quarantine and testing if they don’t have symptoms of COVID-19 after contact with someone who has the disease.

A person is considered fully vaccinated two weeks after receiving the last required dose of vaccine. Although vaccinations are accelerating, CDC estimates that just 9.2% of the U.S. population has been fully vaccinated. There are three vaccines approved for COVID-19 prevention: Two-injection processes by Moderna and Pfizer that have 95% efficacy rates, and a recently released one-shot drug by Johnson & Johnson that’s 65% effective.

Even with the new guidance, CDC warns the vast majority of people need to be fully vaccinated before COVID-19 precautions can be lifted broadly. Until then, the agency suggests that everyone take precautions to protect the unvaccinated by:

• Wearing a well-fitted mask

• Staying at least 6 feet from people you do not live with

• Avoiding medium- and large-sized in-person gatherings

• Getting tested if you show symptoms

• Following guidance issued by individual employers

• Following CDC and health department travel requirements and recommendations

Comments