WaPo | Since
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention first came out with its
misguided policy to lift masking requirements in May, I have been calling on it to reverse course. On Tuesday, it did, but the new guidance remains just as confusing and the communication just as muddled.
CDC
Director Rochelle Walensky explained in a press briefing that in light
of emerging data, the agency is recommending that vaccinated people wear
masks indoors again in areas of high covid-19 transmission. Walensky
cited unpublished research showing that vaccinated people who become
infected with the delta variant carry a similar amount of virus to those
who are unvaccinated and infected. This change in the science was the
impetus for the new guidance, because it suggests that vaccinated people
could be carriers and therefore capable of spreading the coronavirus to family members who are unvaccinated or immunocompromised.
That’s
certainly important information for many Americans to know. As the mom
of two children too young to be vaccinated, I have already been taking
precautions to reduce my risk of being an asymptomatic carrier and
unknowingly infecting my kids. I never stopped wearing a mask in grocery
stores, hotel lobbies and other indoor, crowded spaces where I don’t
know others’ vaccination status. My concern is that the unvaccinated could be a danger to me,
and even though I’m well-protected from becoming severely ill myself,
there’s still a chance I could contract the coronavirus and bring it
back to my vulnerable family members.
On
an individual level, the CDC guidance that people in my circumstance
mask up is correct. But does it make sense for local governments and
businesses to implement mask mandates because of the risk posed by or to
the vaccinated? That’s what the new guidance implies, even though it’s
contradicted by the CDC’s own data. During the same press briefing, Walensky said
the vaccinated are 20 times more protected than the unvaccinated from
becoming severely ill, and seven times more protected from having mild
symptoms. She made clear that the vast majority of transmission appears
to be from the unvaccinated and that “vaccinated individuals continue to
represent a very small amount of transmission occurring around the
country.”
That
leaves many people wondering what’s actually going on here. If the
vaccinated aren’t the problem, why are they being punished by having to
put on masks again? If most transmission is happening because of the unvaccinated, then why is the CDC saying that the guidance is evolving because the science changed about transmission risk of the vaccinated?
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