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Now that most of us are vaccinated, can we already give up masks?

In the US it was announced yesterday that people who have been vaccinated against corona can meet other vaccinated people without keeping their distance and without wearing masks. Why does this not happen with us? And do masks contribute anything to the vaccinated?

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Walla!

health

Tuesday, 09 March 2021, 14:23 Updated: 14:51

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Can we give them up soon?

People with masks (Photo: ShutterStock)

Some people get vaccinated against corona because they are terribly afraid of the disease, and there are those who do it mostly because they want their life back.

For the second type, the update released yesterday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is particularly gratifying.

Under the new guidelines, vaccinated people can meet with other vaccinated people without the need for masks.

This update comes after quite a few countries in the United States have already abolished the obligation to wear masks, and raises the question - will this happen soon in Israel as well?

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To the full article

According to the CDC publication, releasing the need for masks in vaccine encounters is a first step toward a full return to routine, and the CDC will update these recommendations as more people are vaccinated, corona rates fall, and more scientific evidence becomes available.

"We know people want to get vaccinated so they can go back and do the things they enjoy doing, with the people they love," said CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Wolensky. "There are some activities that fully vaccinated people can start doing now in their homes, but for everyone. - Even the vaccinated ones - continue with all distancing strategies when they are in public settings.

As science evolves and more people are vaccinated, we will continue to provide additional guidelines that will help fully vaccinated people resume more activities. "

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The new reliefs in the US are:

1. Visiting other vaccinated people without wearing masks or staying 2 meters apart. In practice this means that vaccinated friends and family can meet in each other's homes without fear.

2. Visiting unvaccinated people from another household Without wearing masks or staying 2 meters apart, if everyone in the other house is at low risk of developing a serious illness. In practice, this means that vaccinated grandparents can spend time with their unvaccinated grandchildren without fear, and without masks and distance.

3. Like in Israel, vaccinated people should not Isolation and corona examination after exposure to a verified patient.

"The insistence on wearing masks is not understood at all"

The CDC advises vaccinated people to continue to take all the usual precautions when in public, visiting unvaccinated people from other multiple households, and when around them there are unvaccinated people who are at high risk of getting serious as a result of COVID-19 infection.

But as mentioned, quite a few states in the United States (Florida, Mississippi, Texas, etc.) have already decided to give up masks altogether, and even in Israel there are those who believe they are not really needed.

"The insistence on charging masks, probably in open areas, is clearly incomprehensible." He told Walla! Health Prof. Udi Kimron, head of the Department of Microbiology and Clinical Immunology at the Faculty of Medicine at Tel Aviv University, saying that as early as mid-November 2020, the most comprehensive study on the effectiveness of masks was published, proving this claim.

"There is nothing to fear from meeting a person without a mask."

Woman with mask hanging over ear (Photo: AP)

The study in question was conducted in Denmark on thousands of participants, and according to Prof. Kimron it is the most comprehensive and best study in its methodology of all the studies conducted regarding the effectiveness of masks in preventing corona.

A group of volunteers was divided into two groups, one was asked to wear a mask everywhere (except their home) and the other was asked not to wear a mask in any way.

The percentage verified for corona among the two groups was examined at the end of the experiment, and it was found that there was no significant difference between them.

"The obvious conclusion is that the effectiveness of masks in protecting those who wear them is not proven, but is unfounded," says Prof. Kimron.

According to him, the obvious scientific conclusion was even then to remove the obligation to wear masks.

"If masks are really 95 percent beneficial, as reported in the Ministry of Health's broadcasts, then we should have realized that in places where mask duty is practiced there is lower infection, and significantly lower mortality from places without such duty," adds Prof. Kimron. "We were supposed to observe a change in the contagion / mortality graph with the introduction of the obligation to wear masks. However, examination of many places in the world did not show the expected change as a result of wearing masks. This is one of the reasons." .

A practical and logical approach

"Obviously a sweeping removal of the duty of masks is also about encounters in enclosed spaces, and all the more so for a vaccinated person, who is apparently highly effectively protected from the corona," he says, "there is nothing to fear from an encounter with a person without a mask."

US vault adds that a large part of the countries have adopted the abolition of duty masks categorically that "we hope to adopt this approach as soon as possible even in Israel."

Dr. Yoav Yechezkeli, specialist in internal medicine and medical administration and lecturer in the Department of Emergency Management and Disaster Tel Aviv University , Believes that an approach should be changed regarding the use of masks.

"The CDC's new recommendations strike a balance between the restrictions that are still needed to prevent the spread of the disease and the ability and ability to communicate and act safely," says Dr. Yehezkeli. In the sense of not only ‘what not’ but also ‘how is it possible.’ ”In addition, he said that“ it is time to abolish the obligation to wear a mask outside, as I recommended at the beginning of the corona plague.

"It's completely safe in the open air."

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