The C.D.C. director offers a stark reassurance: Only unvaccinated people are at risk by unmasking.

Authored by nytimes.com and submitted by Pessimist2020

In her interviews on the Sunday news shows, Dr. Walensky revealed a subtle but marked shift in her agency’s emphasis from community to individual protection. She acknowledged on Fox that “for 16 months, we’ve been telling people to be cautious, be careful, cases are going up,” and made clear that the C.D.C.’s new bottom line is that individuals could make their own choices.

She also noted that communities where cases are high should consider keeping mask requirements, and that children who are not vaccinated — including everyone under 12 because they are not yet eligible for the shot — and people with compromised immune systems should keep their faces covered.

“This was not permission to shed masks for everybody everywhere,” Dr. Walensky said on the NBC program “Meet the Press,” but about “individual assessment of your risk.”

On Saturday, the C.D.C. recommended the continued, universal use of masks and physical distancing in schools. “Our school guidance to complete the school year will not change,” Dr. Walensky said on “Fox News Sunday,” adding that the agency would work over the summer to update its school guidance for the fall.

On a practical level, jurisdictions, including communities, schools and employers, look to the C.D.C. for guidance as they set policy. The new recommendations create the possibility that there will be an increasing number of unmasked people in public venues with no certainty that they have been vaccinated.

BulbasaurCPA on May 17th, 2021 at 01:11 UTC »

This is making me anxious but I also think I’ve become entrenched in pandemic life and I just need time to adjust back

imSimpleJack on May 16th, 2021 at 19:28 UTC »

No shit?

Pessimist2020 on May 16th, 2021 at 18:55 UTC »

In her round of the Sunday news shows on major networks, Dr. Walenksy revealed a subtle but marked shift in her agency’s emphasis from community to individual protection. She acknowledged on Fox that “for 16 months, we’ve been telling people to be cautious, be careful, cases are going up” and made clear that the C.D.C.’s new bottom line is that individuals could make their own choices. In her TV appearances, Dr. Walensky rejected the idea that pressure from a public and elected officials frustrated by more than a year of pandemic restrictions had prompted the new guidance, saying that it stemmed entirely from evolving science that shows the vaccines protect not just against getting severely ill from the coronavirus and its variants but also against spreading them.