In New Announcement, CDC Tells Americans What They Already Knew

During a Tuesday afternoon press conference, officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced new guidance for Americans who have been vaccinated against COVID-19.

JUST IN - Only fully vaccinated people in the US can go outdoors without masks, except in crowded settings, CDC director says and "hopes the new mask guidelines will encourage people to get fully vaccinated." pic.twitter.com/izo5zSvSB1
— Disclose.tv ?? (@disclosetv) April 27, 2021

CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky, who last week failed to give much hope for vaccinated Americans who seek a return to normalcy, outlined the new interim public health recommendations for immunized individuals:

Fully vaccinated people can:
Visit with other fully vaccinated people indoors without wearing masks or physical distancing
Visit with unvaccinated people (including children) from a single household who are at low risk for severe COVID-19 disease indoors without wearing masks or physical distancing
Participate in outdoor activities and recreation without a mask, except in certain crowded settings and venues
Resume domestic travel and refrain from testing before or after travel or self-quarantine after travel.
Refrain from testing before leaving the United States for international travel (unless required by the destination) and refrain from self-quarantine after arriving back in the United States.
Refrain from testing following a known exposure, if asymptomatic, with some exceptions for specific settings
Refrain from quarantine following a known exposure if asymptomatic
Refrain from routine screening testing if asymptomatic and feasible

This list of new activities and behaviors deemed allowable by our CDC overlords was supplemented by the following restrictions:

For now, fully vaccinated people should continue to:
Take precautions in indoor public settings like wearing a well-fitted mask
Wear masks that fit snuggly when visiting indoors with unvaccinated people who are at increased risk for severe COVID-19 disease or who have an unvaccinated household member who is at increased risk for severe COVID-19 disease
Wear well-fitted masks when visiting indoors with unvaccinated people from multiple households
Avoid indoor large-sized in-person gatherings
Get tested if experiencing COVID-19 symptoms
Follow guidance issued by individual employers
Follow CDC and health department travel requirements and recommendations

These recommendations are still confusing and seemingly contradictory, as President Biden made evident in his remarks addressing the new recommendations Tuesday afternoon.

President Joe Biden:

"If you are fully vaccinated, and you are outdoors, and not in a big crowd, you no longer need to wear a mask. I want to be absolutely clear, if you're in a crowd, like a stadium or at a conference...you still need to wear a mask even if you are outside." pic.twitter.com/5gq1uuttqv
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) April 27, 2021

As Matt explained, many restrictions Americans have questioned ended up debunked, rather than validated, by the science clung to by those who kept our country locked down:

The new study on the so-called six-feet apart rule was blown up. The indoor occupancy caps were also trashed. What about those insanely expensive air filtration units that teachers want to be installed before they venture out of their caves and start working again? Not necessary. Open windows, fans blowing, and a good circulation of fresh air is good enough. It doesn’t matter if you’re 60 feet away or 6 feet away from someone inside, you’re still at risk of contracting the virus, even with a mask on. It’s quite a sledgehammer to the entire Fauci-Democrat-Media COVID panic machine that’s been working nonstop to keep us in a constant state of fear.
...
I wore a mask and still contracted COVID last November. Now, with three vaccines, over 100 million shots administered, tens of millions of kids who generally don’t get COVID or spread it, and the millions more who have acquired natural immunity—we’re near herd immunity. Also, it’s not really required to wear masks after vaccination. To suggest otherwise is science fiction and double masking is just an exercise in political theater.

If people are immune, let them act like it. And stop clinging to restrictions if they're not backed by science.