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(CNN) -
US communities ushered in a rapid return to normal over the weekend, as the country responded to the latest guidance on mask use from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (CDC).
The agency said Thursday that fully vaccinated Americans do not need to wear masks or practice physical distancing indoors or outdoors, with a few exceptions, prompting announcements across the country from state leaders and businesses removing their mask requirements for women. people who have already received their vaccines against covid-19.
But with much of the country still unvaccinated, some experts say the move was too swift and has resulted in many more Americans now removing their masks than those recommended by the CDC.
"I think the CDC wanted to say something really good, which is that these vaccines are really protective," CNN emergency physician and medical analyst Dr. Leana Wen told CNN on Sunday.
"However, the thing is, his actions had unintended consequences."
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“We have seen governors, mayors, and business owners remove mask-wearing mandates, and as a result, we have now made life much less safe for people who are not vaccinated, for people who are immunosuppressed, and for young children. they cannot yet be vaccinated, "Wen added.
Emergency Doctor Megan Ranney also raised concerns over the weekend about Americans who have not yet received a vaccine due to access issues, and how they may be affected by removal of the requirements by local and business leaders. .
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"I urge companies to keep those mask mandates in place for as long as possible in their businesses to protect their workers," he told CNN.
“It is particularly a problem of equity.
We know that the black and brown people in America, who are most often our front-line employees with public-facing jobs, have also had the hardest time accessing vaccines. "
More than 47% of the US population has received at least one dose of the covid-19 vaccine, and more than 37% are fully vaccinated, CDC data shows.
Questions from the audience about the coronavirus: how to know if a person has already been vaccinated against covid-19?
"Not everyone has to remove their mask"
CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky told CNN on Sunday that the agency's new guidelines do not mean that all Americans who have been vaccinated should remove their masks.
For example, Walensky said that immunosuppressed people and others at higher risk should consult with their doctors before deciding to stop wearing a mask.
"Not everyone has to remove their mask because our guide has changed," he said.
"If you are concerned, consult your doctor before you stop using the mask."
Walensky also said that different communities in the US have different vaccination rates and different rates of Covid-19 cases, and that people should take that into account when deciding whether or not to wear a mask.
He added that the CDC is asking companies to make sure to help their employees get vaccinated so they are safe.
ANALYSIS |
Liberation and concern about the new guide on masks for vaccinated people in the United States.
Over the weekend, the agency also said schools should continue to wear face masks and use other novel coronavirus prevention strategies for at least the remainder of this school year.
Those strategies will be necessary because students, who are authorized to receive a vaccine, will not be fully vaccinated by the end of the academic year, the CDC said.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) expanded the emergency use authorization for Pfizer's covid-19 vaccine - last week - to include people ages 12 to 15.
Children under the age of 12 are not yet eligible to receive the Covid-19 vaccine in the United States.
Children who are not vaccinated against the virus will still need to wear face masks in the classroom in the fall, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Friday.
"As for the unvaccinated group, or the elementary school children, nothing has really changed for them," Fauci said.
CDC misunderstood the message, says expert
A key part is missing that could have helped make this guide clearer to Americans and not led some communities to rely on the honor system, one expert said.
"The CDC has got the science right, but they got the message wrong," Dr. Jonathan Reiner, professor of Medicine and Surgery at George Washington University, told CNN on Sunday.
While those who are fully vaccinated are "basically immune" to the virus, Reiner said, the question is how communities keep others protected, such as children who cannot yet receive the vaccine or immunosuppressed Americans who may still be at risk.
“Ideally, the way I would protect them would be to know who is vaccinated and who is not, and unvaccinated people would still have to wear a mask.
And this is where politics comes in, ”Reiner said.
“If we had a very simple electronic system from the beginning, you basically have a pass on your phone that turns green after being vaccinated, businesses and places across the country could say, 'Good news, if you have a green pass. , you don't need to wear a mask. '»
"We don't have that, so how do we move forward?"
This is what inequality in vaccination against covid-19 looks like
The guidance issued last week, Walensky said, was just a first step in helping state and local leaders make their own recommendations moving forward.
The agency is asking people to "take their health into their own hands" and get vaccinated so they are no longer at risk, Walensky said in an interview on ABC's "This Week."
"For the unvaccinated, our policy has not changed," he added.
“We were going to get to a place in this pandemic where vaccinated people were going to be able to remove their masks.
We are lucky to be there with the science that we have, and now we have to take this fundamental step that is completely based on science and we understand what it means as we open up the whole country.
CNN's Naomi Thomas and Lauren Mascarenhas contributed to this report.
Covid-19