Chances are that when you woke up Friday morning and saw the news that fully vaccinated people in the United States can now move without masks in most outdoor or indoor settings, you were either overjoyed at the prospect of such guidelines being issued in India in the future or were confused about why all health experts, top doctors and govt in India insist that we continue to wear masks even after being fully vaccinated.
Let’s try and understand why US’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued such a guideline and why India shouldn’t see this as a green signal to put their mask away.
The US CDC has said that fully vaccinated people i.e those who have received their final COVID-19 jab at least two weeks ago, don’t need to wear masks anymore indoors or outdoors or follow physical distancing but that advice comes with ifs and buts.
Dr. Rochelle Walensky, Director of CDC said that wearing of masks is still required in places like hospitals, healthcare centres, homeless shelters. Also, while travelling in a bus, train, plane or any other public transport.
Fully vaccinated people will also have to wear masks wherever required by the federal, state, local, tribal, or territorial laws, rules, and regulations, including local business and workplace guidance.
While some states in US have adapted their Covid SOPs to reflect the CDC recommendations, most have decided to keep their rules unchanged.
Now let’s look at what led to the ‘masks off’ guidelines.
CDC believes that the country’s aggressive vaccination campaign is paying off. U.S. virus cases are at their lowest rate since September, deaths are at their lowest point since last April and the test positivity rate is at the lowest point since the pandemic began.
To date about 154 million Americans, more than 47% of the population, have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccines and more than 117 million are fully vaccinated. Also, US has just approved Pfizer vaccines for children between 12-15 years of age.
While the guideline has been met with much cheer by some people, including US President Joe Biden who hailed it as a ‘great day’, there is also a apprehension in people’s mind that those who haven’t got their jabs can now remove their masks by claiming that they are fully vaccinated.
The situation in India is opposite to the one in US. The country is currently in the throes of the second wave of Covid-19 pandemic. Experts have said that India has hit the peak and cases are expected to plateau but have also cautioned that it is not all clear till the positivity rate comes. There are also warnings of a third wave.
Vaccinations are being seen as the only way to reduce the transmission and severity of the disease but India’s vaccine drive is on the slow track. As of 7am on May 14 according to the govt data, 13.87 crore people or just under 11.66% were vaccinated with the first dose and 4.05 crore people or just over 3.33% were fully vaccinated with both doses.
So stay home, stay safe and mask up if absolutely have t