The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is planning to release new guidelines this week for Americans vaccinated against COVID-19.
Senior administration officials told POLITICO that the recommendations will include what safe activities people who have received both doses of the vaccine can do.
The relaxed restrictions will include a list of of potential scenarios including whom to socialize with, where such meetings should take place and factors to consider before gathering.
POLITICO also reports that there will be section on travel recommendations.
However, fully immunized adults will be asked to still follow many public health measures including wearing masks and social distancing.
The CDC is planning to release new guidelines this week for Americans who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Pictured: Estela Perales (left) gets the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine from pharmacy technician Ani Stepanian at a CVS Pharmacy branch in Los Angeles
Recommendations will include whom to socialize with, where such meetings should take place and factors to consider before gathering as an average of 1.8 million people are vaccinated every day
With nearly 25% of the population having received one or both doses (above), many states have been lifting restrictions
Several top officials, including Dr Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious diseases expert, and CDC director Dr Rochelle Walesnky had previously said the guidance was imminent.
At a press conference on Monday, Fauci said it is safe for ‘doubly vaccinated’ Americans to congregate in small groups.
‘I use the example of a daughter coming in from out of town who is doubly vaccinated, and a husband and wife doubly vaccinated, and maybe a next-door neighbor who you know are doubly vaccinated,’ he said.
‘Small gatherings in the home of people, I think you can clearly feel that the risk – the relative risk is so low that you would not have to wear a mask, that you could have a good social gathering within the home.’
With nearly 25 percent of the population having received at least one vaccine dose, and an average of 1.8 million people being inoculated every day, many states have been lifting coronavirus-related restrictions.
Iowa Gov Kim Reynolds (R) and Missouri Gov Mike Parson (R) lifted mask mandates in their states last month while North Dakota’s mandate expired in January.
And, on Friday, Arkansas Gov Asa Hutchinson (R) lifted most of the state’s restrictions on businesses and said he will end a mask mandate in March if test positivity and hospitalization rates are low.
But Walensky said she was ‘deeply concerned’ about some public health measures being rolled back.
On Monday, she noted that current figures shows national case counts have flattened off at around 70,000 per day and deaths at around 2,000.
U.S. health officials have warned America that it’s not time to relax even as new COVID cases fell below 50,000 nationwide for the first time since October 18.
At a press conference on Monday, Dr Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said she was ‘deeply concerned’ as some states roll back COVID-19 restrictions.
She noted that current figures shows national case counts have flattened off at around 70,000 per day and deaths at around 2,000.
‘I am really worried that states are rolling back the same restrictions that helped us. We cannot be resigned to 70,000 cases a day, 2,000 daily deaths,’ Walensky said.
‘At this level of cases, we stand to lose the hard-earned ground we have gained…This is the not the time to relax critical safeguards…We have the potential to stop the surge of cases. Stay strong in your convictions.’
The new recommendations for vaccinated people come just two weeks after the CDC released guidelines for how to safely reopen schools.
Measures depended on whether schools were in one of four color-coded zones: blue, yellow, orange or red.
Schools in blue zones (zero to nine new cases per 100,000 in past seven days) or yellow zones (10 to 49 new cases) were encouraged to open for full, in-person learning.
Meanwhile, schools in orange zones (50 to 99 new cases) can reopen limitedly along with measures likes masking, physical distancing, hand-washing, updated ventilation and contact tracing.
Lastly, in red zones (100 new cases or more per 100,000), elementary schools can have a limited reopening but middle and high schools can be online only until cases decline.
