The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #167528 Message #4100728
Posted By: Stilly River Sage
04-Apr-21 - 10:07 AM
Thread Name: BS: Check in Mudcatters world wide
Subject: RE: BS: Check in Mudcatters world wide
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) are now telling us that vaccinated Americans can travel within the US as long as we wear masks. Vaccinated Americans are at low risk while traveling but must still wear masks, the C.D.C. says.
Americans who are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus can travel βat low risk to themselves,β both within the United States and internationally, but they must continue to take precautions like wearing a mask in public to avoid possibly spreading the virus to others, federal health officials said on Friday.
The new recommendations are a modest departure from previous advice. Federal health officials have been urging Americans not to travel at all, unless they absolutely must. That recommendation still applies, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told reporters at a White House news conference on Friday.
New virus cases, hospitalizations and new deaths have declined significantly since their January peaks, but new infections have remained at a level that health officials say is too high. New deaths on average have only just dipped below 900 a day, according to a New York Times database, and hospitalization numbers have started to level off.
With the case increases in recent weeks, federal health officials are concerned about the potential impact of easing restrictions. Scientists are not yet certain whether, or how often, vaccinated people may become infected, even briefly, and transmit the virus to others. A recent C.D.C. study suggested that it may be a rare event, and the agency said on Friday that about 101.8 million people β nearly one-third of the total U.S. population β had received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine.
Until that question is resolved, many public health officials feel it is unwise to tell vaccinated Americans simply to do as they please. Yet at the same time, Dr. Walensky said on Friday, the agency wished to acknowledge a growing body of evidence suggesting that the risk to vaccinated travelers themselves is comparatively low.