What does it mean to remove the use of masks from vaccinated people?
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(CNN) -
Americans removed their masks Thursday when the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) made the sudden announcement that vaccinated people no longer need to wear them indoors or out.
It was a great moment of liberation after a year of intense stress and fear, but also fear for many, as the policy created a new set of complex questions for parents, employers, business owners, and the millions of Americans who still doubt. whether to receive the covid-19 vaccine.
Officials in Joe Biden's administration greeted the news with euphoria in Washington.
At the White House, the president removed his mask during a meeting with Senator Shelley Moore Capito and other senators, the West Virginia Republican said.
The president's aides, who had been wearing masks until Thursday morning, put them away.
The Capitol senators uncovered their faces.
"Free at last," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
The CDC's decision to change the guidance for fully vaccinated people, which came as a surprise even to White House officials briefed Wednesday night, marks a huge political success for Biden at the beginning of his term and a turning point. key turning point on the path to eradicating the pandemic, which is perhaps the most important goal of his presidency. However, in the days ahead, the onus will fall on officials, none other than the president himself, to manage and demonstrate the transition between the CDC's pronouncement and its impact on the lives of millions of Americans.
"I think it's a great milestone, a great day," Biden said in the White House Rose Garden, emphasizing smiling and telling others to do so after months of hiding their faces to protect each other.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN's Jake Tapper that the announcement did not mean that the pandemic was over in the United States, but that the nation had just taken another step toward life. normal.
"Being able to go without a mask, both indoors and outdoors, is really a big step in that direction," Fauci said.
"I would not want to declare victory prematurely, but I am saying that this is clearly a step in the direction we want to go."
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New questions
However, the CDC's decision immediately raised a number of questions and consequences, including a debate over whether an agency often criticized for being too cautious had suddenly gone too far.
There were already key points of confusion and conflicting policies that could raise doubts in the minds of some Americans about the science of mask removal at this point when approximately 46% of Americans 18 and older are fully vaccinated, according to data released by the CDC.
The misunderstanding was evident Thursday in the dissonant policies even within different government agencies and entities in Washington. The White House told vaccinated staff they could remove their masks at work. But when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was asked if she planned to change the rules and allow members to remove their masks in the House plenary session, the California Democrat responded, "No," then he rhetorically asked, "Are they all vaccinated?"
During pick-up from school on Thursday across the country, many parents still wore their masks after the announcement as unvaccinated children walked out the doors, raising questions about what the new policies will mean at a time when vaccines They are not approved for younger children. Parents also have a hard time explaining why there are now different rules for adults and children without creating more concerns among young children.
By Thursday night, many Americans were in town or in bars raising their glasses to celebrate the moment, although bars have often been cited by scientists as one of the breeding grounds for transmission of COVID-19. However, the federal mandate for masks in transportation will remain in effect until Sept. 13, the Transportation Security Administration said Thursday, although science has generally shown that flying in airplanes has been safer than fraternizing in bars. .
When asked why the mask requirement will continue to exist for vaccinated travelers, Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, told CNN's Erin Burnett Thursday night that it makes sense that people who must sit together in tight spaces wear their masks.
"In circumstances where people are close together and everyone's immunization status is not known, it is best to be cautious by wearing masks on those planes, trains and buses," Collins said.
"Once we move forward with an even higher degree of immunization, and viral infections, which are still 30,000 a day, really continue to decline, we can also smooth them out."
The surprising new guide will have massive implications for the entire realm of national life, from restaurants to transportation, schools and offices.
At the root of the concern and dismay is the fact that CDC's new policy is based almost entirely on trust.
It depends on unvaccinated people, who could harbor the new variants circulating in the U.S. population, and who continue to wear masks to protect themselves and others who may not be able to receive the vaccine, either for medical or medical reasons. because they are too young.
When asked how store or restaurant owners will know if their customers are safe without masks, Fauci acknowledged that it will be a tough challenge in the coming months.
They won't be able to know.
I mean, it will depend on people being honest enough to say whether they were vaccinated or not, and responsible enough to wear… a mask, not only for their own protection, but also for the protection of others, ”Fauci said. to Tapper.
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Fauci pointed out that although the federal government will not require vaccine passports, there will be institutions, universities and companies that choose to make that test a requirement.
While CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky cited three new studies showing vaccines function as the basis for the new guidance, the agency's decision surprised some doctors and public health officials as abrupt.
"I think we need to send a very clear message that vaccination is their ticket back to pre-pandemic life, but frankly this announcement surprised me, I think they went from one extreme to the other," said former Commissioner Dr. Leana Wen Baltimore Health Officer and CNN Medical Analyst.
"If you go to the supermarket, you may be fully vaccinated, you take off your mask at the supermarket, but who's going to check if others are vaccinated too?" Wen said on CNN's "Newsroom."
«What does that mean if I am going to bring my son, my 4 year old son who is not fully vaccinated?
Now he will be in a supermarket potentially exposed to people who are not vaccinated and who could be a danger to him.
So I guess I'm a bit stumped as to the origin of this guide.
I think we are missing a lot of steps ».
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An incentive for the unvaccinated
In the short term, the fact that the new guidelines apply only to vaccinated people could give the government an opportunity to convince people who resist vaccinations to go ahead.
But the new CDC policy also raises the possibility that Americans who have long been irritated by the use of masks and do not intend to get vaccinated - often conservative - may also remove their masks.
And that could lead to increased circulation of the virus.
The decision was so sudden that everyone from employers to restaurant owners to local government officials was struggling to understand how to react.
How quickly, for example, should mask requirements and occupancy limits be altered, and how should policies be shaped to prove a person's vaccination status?
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A looming question, for example, is whether companies are now allowed to welcome staff into their offices, whether they are fully vaccinated, without masks, and without social distancing.
And if that's the case, will restaurants and hotels follow?
And if companies ask people to prove they are vaccinated with vaccine passports or other documentation, how will the Biden administration try to prevent that request from becoming the next front in the vaccine culture wars?
Another area in which Americans will look to the White House for guidance will be the psychological dimension of a decision that reverses months and months of guidance and behavior from the government that has now taken hold.
The recommendation to wear a mask came to symbolize the dampening of normal life during the worst health crisis in 100 years.
People who have long complained that those who do not wear masks are ignoring science are now in the position of having to rely on science to remove their masks.
First lady Jill Biden reflected that impact and spoke for many when she arrived without a mask for a visit to West Virginia on Thursday.
"We feel naked," he said.
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