The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention made an announcement on Monday for those who are fully vaccinated. On a call, the officials revealed that fully vaccinated people can now gather indoors without masks and without social distancing. They can also gather indoors with unvaccinated people from one other household without masks, unless any of those people or anyone they live with has an increased risk for severe illness from COVID-19. In public, however, the agency urges even those who are vaccinated to adhere to social distancing and mask mandates.
#COVID19 vaccines are effective at protecting you from getting sick. Based on what we know, people who have been fully vaccinated can start to do some things that they had stopped doing because of the pandemic. To learn more, visit: https://t.co/FJMon7WlFO. pic.twitter.com/AjnGbe62us
— CDC (@CDCgov) March 8, 2021
The CDC says fully vaccinated people can visit others who’re fully vaccinated in small gatherings indoors without wearing masks or physical distancing. Fully vaccinated people can also visit unvaccinated people if the latter are not at high risk of severe COVID-19 pic.twitter.com/vooSK5On2c
— NowThis (@nowthisnews) March 8, 2021
“We know that people want to get vaccinated so they can get back to doing the things they enjoy with the people they love,” said CDC Director Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky. “There are some activities that fully vaccinated people can begin to resume now in the privacy of their own homes.”
People who are fully vaccinated against Covid may safely gather with small groups from other households without wearing masks or physical distancing, even if those people have not yet had their shots, CDC says.
— NBC News (@NBCNews) March 8, 2021
It's a small victory for those who have been missing family and friends due to the lockdowns this past year.
The agency offered good news to grandparents who have refrained from seeing children and grandchildren for the past year, saying that fully vaccinated people may visit indoors with unvaccinated people from a single household so long as no one among the unvaccinated is at risk for severe disease if infected with the coronavirus.
That means fully vaccinated grandparents may visit unvaccinated healthy adult children and healthy grandchildren without masks or physical distancing. But the visit should be limited to one household: If the adult children’s unvaccinated neighbors drop by, the visit should move outdoors and everyone should wear masks and distance. (New York Times)
Three coronavirus vaccines have been approved by the FDA: Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson, which unlike the first two only requires one dose.