US ends masks, social distancing for those fully vaccinated

The United States took a major step towards a return to pre-Covid-19 normality Thursday when the country’s health protection agency issued a new set of guidelines allowing those fully vaccinated to go without masks and social distancing both indoors and outdoors. Vaccination, therefore, will become central to America’s fight against the epidemic now. President Joe Biden was in the middle of a meeting with Republican senators at the White House when word came of the new rule. “I think it’s a great milestone. A great day,” Biden said later, claiming credit for it at the same time. “It’s been made possible by the extraordinary success we’ve had in vaccinating so many Americans so quickly.”

The US president and the Senators are among the 35.8% of Americans who have been fully vaccinated, a stage reached two weeks after the second dose of the two-shot Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines and the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine. In all, 46.6% have received at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccine. Many more are likely to be added to that number with the rolling out of inoculation of those between 12 and 15 years of age, starting Thursday. “Fully vaccinated people no longer need to wear a mask or physically distance in any setting,” said the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in an update of his guidelines. Exceptions, it added, would be places

Fully vaccinated people will also be able to resume domestic travel and won’t have to test before or after or resort to self-isolation. If travelling abroad, subject to restrictions, they won’t have to test before leaving or quarantine themselves after their return. They will also not have to go for a test following known exposure. where they were required by federal, state, local, tribal, or territorial laws, rules, and regulations, including local business and workplace guidance. But they will not be exempted from facial covering during travel. CDC said its prevention measures will continue to apply to all travellers, including those vaccinated.

All travellers will have to wear a mask on all planes, buses, trains, and other forms of public transportation travelling into, within, or out of the United States and in US transportation hubs such as airports and stations, the agency said. Critics also said that the new guideline could leave a large number of Americans vulnerable to the virus, especially children younger than 12 who are not eligible for Covid-19 inoculation and anti-vaxers, people who are suspicious of all vaccines and won’t get the shots voluntarily.