So pissed at the CDC

[twowhat?]

Agreed.

The CDC has been facing a lot of pushback - particularly FROM anti-maskers and vaccine-deniers - who say that if the vaccines really work, we wouldn't still have these restrictions. When the truth is that we continue to have these restrictions because the vaccines DO work and not enough people are getting them.

At a certain point, I think the CDC's job is to be honest about the science. They knew the vaccines were incredibly effective. Every day, more studies come out proving that. What they did not know, for certain, was how effective the vaccines were at preventing asymptomatic spread. And the recent studies show that they are, like vaccines typically are, extremely effective in that regard too. A vaccinated person who still gets infected with COVID is likely to have such a low viral load that they cannot spread the disease to others.

It is the CDC's job to make the recommendations based on what the science shows, not how radical state politicians will use this to appeal to a rabid anti-mask base. The CDC is being honest with the science when they say that vaccinated people should be very safe, both for themselves and others around them, without a mask. I think they delayed as long as they could specifically because of those more political issues, and the concerns that the anti-vaxxers would lead to another outbreak of a vaccine-resistant variant. But now the studies are showing that the vaccines are EXTREMELY effective in protecting against the variants as well. At a certain point, the CDC has to deal in the science, not in trying to control a science-resistant political party.

Even before this, many states have loosened their mask mandates. Most states were offering little enforcement of their mask mandates. The anti-maskers were flouting the rules already. This really does not change much for those people.

What I do think this does is offers another strong defense of the effectiveness of the vaccines, and hopefully offers some appeal to people who were still holding out on getting the vaccine. I have been volunteering with vaccine distribution since the very start, and like pretty much everywhere else, we now have way more supply than demand. We went from events vaccinating hundreds to canvassing the streets, trying to get 20 people that day. This past week, we had our most successful vaccination event in ages, with roughly 150 vaccinated. Some of that was landing in just the right community. But we were definitely getting feedback from this population that they didn't want to get the vaccine, but they knew they needed to just get it over with. Like they had accepted this was something they just had to do, like any other distasteful necessary task. This isn't a population that strictly follows the news, but I do think the messaging on vaccine effectiveness is spreading to some of the hesitant. By which I mean hesitant, not crazy conspiracy Gates-chip crowd.

I know this still leaves our youngest at risk, and it is scary. But I am also not sure, based on the science, that it puts them MORE at risk. At this point, given that they have to wait for vaccine approval, what seems best for them would be anything and everything that convinces more adults to get vaccinated. And I personally think this helps.

I have no idea where people would get the idea to tie this to conspiracies about the pipelines, but a quick glance at the news would tell you that only the worst PR director in history would think that wouldn't still get ample news coverage. Because it absolutely did, enough to freak people out into gas hoarding, which then led to the very gas shortage we could have easily avoided.

Thanks for posting this. I do agree with a lot of these points, and it’s a much more positive argument than where I was coming from. 😊 I think (hope) that most people will do the right thing and wear their mask if they are not vaccinated. I really really want to believe this.

I just got back from Kroger, which still requires masks for all. I saw our crossing guard and his wife...the only unmasked people in the store that I could see. I know they are anti-vax from his FB posts. and Kroger still has the big sign on the doors and the PA announcements that masks are required. These are what I would consider “good people”. And yet...it made me so angry and sad. So if “good people” like them can take advantage of the honor system and ditch their masks as unvaxxed/antivax, again my faith in humanity is lost.

But hwin I’m definitely glad you posted this more positive spin. My hope is that the people who won’t follow the honor system are small enough in numbers that they don’t contribute to a variant surge and put our younger children and medically fragile at risk.

I am glad that medical masks are widely available now and it does give me comfort to know that you can more easily get a KN95/KF94 to protect your unvaccinated children better. The Korean brands especially are great with kids sizes.

[JustMe]

I also think that what hwin708 makes sense and is likely. I think, if that is the case, it would have been better if they had made big announcements about the research consistently showing that vaccinated people are so unlikely to get sick and so unlikely to spread to others;instead we went from not being sure of that to some very quiet rumblings that this was discovered and I had to work to find those rumblings, to the big announcement that vaccinated people don't need to wear masks or socially distance. They could have tried to raise excitement regarding the news about the vaccines instead of going directly to the no mask/distancing necessary for vaccinated people. Also, it does make sense that they can't be dishonest about the science b/c of the problem that some unvaccinated people are the ones who won't wear masks. I think they could have stated this clearly and somewhat neutrally. "If you are not vaccinated, you can still get Covid 19 and whether or not you get symptoms, you can spread it to more vulnerable people".They have said something like this, but everything is overshadowed by the no mask/distancing for the vaccinated announcement. Not that many who refuse to believe they can become ill or spread to others would care, but its a clear message to people who do care who have family members who have not yet been able to get vaccinated (including kids) and/or are more vulnerable.

[carolinamama]

This was posted by a local ICU doc I worked with years ago. He's been working in the thick of things, has kids and is a level-headed person. It gave me great perspective and thought it may be helpful to others. He does address kids in the comments and admits it's sticky with the unvaccinated. I'm cutting and pasting so I don't do a paraphrase butcher job. In my mind, it goes along with the thinking that we have to have gain normalcy eventually and we can't keep moving the goalposts.

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The CDC says that vaccinated people can now be maskless — but “why now?” is a legitimate question. Since many people have asked, I will give my theory. I am not endorsing the plan, but I suspect it’s the reason…
CDC recently reported that only .008% of the fully vaccinated have become infected. That’s only 5800 people out of 66 million. Out of that tiny number of infections only 7% required hospitalization and only 1% died. Now, this is likely a bit of an undercount because vaccinated people are much more likely to have asymptomatic infections (and thus not get tested) but still this shows that the vaccines are incredibly, incredibly effective in preventing serious illness.
About half the people in the US are partially vaccinated and only about a third are completed vaccinated, and nobody really expects the unvaccinated will comply with the recommendation to continue masking. So why now? Well, eventually, you have to let America be America. To put a harsher truth to it, you must let the unvaccinated get infected at some point. By this being the summer when folks spend lots of time outdoors, the spread should be slower and safer. Plus, we know that hospitals typically have more capacity in the summer.
Now, I’m certainly not saying that getting infected is a good thing. We continue to see unvaccinated people die from COVID in our ICUs everyday. I personally know several previously anti-vax young adults who now have long-haul COVID and will likely have health problems for the rest of their lives. This is a nasty disease. However, everybody in the US who wants a vaccine should have relatively easy access now. If somebody isn’t vaccinated, that is their choice. This is not Israel where the majority of the population will be willingly vaccinated. At some point, you have to let America do her freedom thing, and summer is the best time to do it.
One last thing, masks continue to be powerful weapons against COVID and respiratory illnesses. I suspect that we will continue to wear them in health care settings for quite a long time to both protect us and our patients. Plus we know that vaccinations are not perfect, so many will be more comfortable wearing a mask in high risk situations. I hope that we as a country will lovingly support those that continue to wear a mask because continuing to do so is a completely reasonable and scientific choice.
As always, I’m happy to take any questions. This is also just my theory, so feel free to poke holes all in it…

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[Globetrotter]

I also think that what hwin708 makes sense and is likely. I think, if that is the case, it would have been better if they had made big announcements about the research consistently showing that vaccinated people are so unlikely to get sick and so unlikely to spread to others;instead we went from not being sure of that to some very quiet rumblings that this was discovered and I had to work to find those rumblings, to the big announcement that vaccinated people don't need to wear masks or socially distance. They could have tried to raise excitement regarding the news about the vaccines instead of going directly to the no mask/distancing necessary for vaccinated people. Also, it does make sense that they can't be dishonest about the science b/c of the problem that some unvaccinated people are the ones who won't wear masks. I think they could have stated this clearly and somewhat neutrally. "If you are not vaccinated, you can still get Covid 19 and whether or not you get symptoms, you can spread it to more vulnerable people".They have said something like this, but everything is overshadowed by the no mask/distancing for the vaccinated announcement. Not that many who refuse to believe they can become ill or spread to others would care, but its a clear message to people who do care who have family members who have not yet been able to get vaccinated (including kids) and/or are more vulnerable.

💯 Agreed

[Globetrotter]

Carolinamama, that’s an interesting perspective and a good way to put it- let the US do their “freedom thing.”

[Kestrel]

I do agree with what CarolinaMama posted; I think that is a great summary.

However - I do wish they had waited just a couple of more weeks! If this announcement was following the Memorial Day holiday, I would be a lot more comfortable.

[ang79]

I do agree with what CarolinaMama posted; I think that is a great summary.

However - I do wish they had waited just a couple of more weeks! If this announcement was following the Memorial Day holiday, I would be a lot more comfortable.

Yes, why couldn't it wait until school was out? Or until the newest age bracket of 12-15 year olds actually had time to become fully vaccinated? The timing is just odd to me.

I saw that the CDC director put our a clarification message due to all the confusion from states, companies, etc. stating that un-vaccinated people should still wear masks. But the damage is already done. DH (he attends a different church than me), went to church today and said that there were way more people there than there has been the previous weeks and most were not wearing masks. He is still one week out from the two week wait after his second shot to be considered fully vaxed and he decided he was covered good enough so didn't wear a mask, ugh! His church announced that they will partition off a section for people that still want to wear masks to keep them separate from those who aren't wearing masks, which makes no sense to me since it is still airborne. I was worried what it would look like in stores when I went out to run errands today. Thankfully Target still has a sign on the door to wear a mask and I think I only saw one person in the store without a mask on. Aldi also had a sign on the door but there were a handful of people not wearing masks there. While passing Sam's Club it seemed to be about 50/50 mix of people wearing masks or not that were entering the store. Even though I am considered fully vaxed next Saturday, I think I will still mask up when shopping there because I have a feeling that a large percentage of the people not masked are also not vaccinated.

[cuca_]

Our school sent out an email Friday saying they’re aware of the guidance but will be requiring masks for the foreseeable future so I’m grateful.


Sent from my iPhone using Baby Bargains

Same with our schools. We are in a red state, but luckily our school district and the private school my youngest attends are keeping the mask mandate.

[Globetrotter]

Carolinamama, do you know the source for that post? If it’s public, would you mind sharing it so I can forward? If not, no worries This has been the main topic or conversation in my friend circle and I found it interesting perspective that I hadn’t considered.

[PZMommy]

Today Fauci said Elem students will need to continue masking at school in the fall as they will not be vaccinated yet. I’m pretty sure my district will require that.

I saw the CDC was trying to back pedal and clarify what they said earlier, but it is too late. They should have at least waited until after Memorial Day.