“Covid-19 continues to have a great impact on our nation. Like you, I want to be able to get back to day-to-day activities and get involved with our friends, families and communities,” said CDC director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, at the White House. Monday briefing. “Science and the protection of public health must guide us at the beginning of the resumption of these activities. Today’s action represents an important first step. It is not our final destination ”.
The CDC defines people who are fully vaccinated as those who have already spent two weeks of their second dose of Moderna and Pfizer Covid-19 vaccines or two weeks after a single dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. There is growing evidence that vaccinated people do not transmit Covid-19, but scientists are still trying to understand how long the vaccine protection lasts.
“The level of precautions taken should be determined by the characteristics of the unvaccinated people, who remain unprotected against Covid-19,” say the guidelines.
- Visit other vaccinated people indoors, without masks or physical distance
- Visit indoors with unvaccinated people from the same family, without masks or physical distance, if unvaccinated people are at low risk of serious illness.
- Skip the quarantine and test if exposed to someone who has Covid-19, but is asymptomatic, but must monitor the symptoms for 14 days
However, people who are fully vaccinated still need to take precautions in many settings. The guidelines say that people who are fully vaccinated should:
- Wear a mask and keep a good physical distance around the unvaccinated ones who are most at risk for severe Covid-19, or if the unvaccinated person has a family member who is at highest risk
- Wear masks and physically distance yourself when visiting unvaccinated people from multiple families.
In addition, fully vaccinated persons should continue with basic safety precautions, including: wearing a mask that fits well and maintaining physical distance in public; avoiding midsize and large crowds; avoiding poorly ventilated public spaces; wash your hands frequently; and make the Covid-19 test feel sick.
If fully vaccinated people live in a non-hospital setting, such as a home or detention center, they should be quarantined for 14 days and tested if exposed to someone with a suspected or confirmed case of Covid-19.
The guidelines say that the risk of infection in social activities such as going to the gym or restaurant is less for those who are fully vaccinated. However, people still need to take precautions, as the risk of transmission in these places is greater and increases the more unvaccinated people are involved.
No changes to CDC travel guidelines
Walensky said the CDC’s travel guidelines will remain the same for vaccinees until there is more data on how much or how little vaccinated people can transmit the virus to others. She added that a “wider range” of the population will also need to be vaccinated before it is really safe.
About 90% of the country is not yet vaccinated, said Walensky. Travel brings a lot of exposure to the crowds and the spread of variants is also a real concern.
“Every time there is an increase in travel, we have an increase in cases in this country,” said Walensky.
“We are hopeful that our next set of guidelines will have more science about what vaccinated people can do, perhaps travel between them.”
Jeff Zients, the White House coronavirus coordinator, said he hoped the country would see the announcement of new guidelines as a “day of hope”.
“We are here in large part because of the security protection that many, many Americans have adopted in relation to their families, friends and neighbors,” said Zients. “We ask people to continue to do this so that we can get there, as quickly and permanently as possible.”
There are now 30 million people in the United States who are fully vaccinated, but the United States has still averaged more than 60,000 cases a day in the past seven days, according to Johns Hopkins University.
“We continue to have high levels of viruses across the country, and more easily transmissible variants have now been confirmed in almost every state, as we work to rapidly vaccinate more and more people each day, we have to see this through to the end,” he said. Walensky Monday. “Let’s be together. Please continue to wear a tight-fitting mask and take the other public health actions that we know will work to help stop the spread of this virus.”
CNN’s Elizabeth Cohen contributed to this report.