By: LaTonya Washington, MD
After over a year in the pandemic, we’ve started to see states and municipalities lift masking restrictions. At this time, less than 50% of Americans have been fully vaccinated and we haven’t reached herd immunity. Recently, the CDC has released recommendations stating that individuals who have been fully vaccinated can go unmasked indoors around other fully vaccinated individuals. Immediately, businesses that had previously had strict masking requirements lifted the requirements and we are now seeing unmasked individuals all across the country. With so many refusing to acknowledge COVID as a serious threat, it is unlikely that all of these unmasked people have been fully vaccinated.
As healthcare professionals, we are concerned. We are still seeing a number of new COVID-19 cases daily and deaths in our local hospitals. People are beginning to gather in large groups and becoming more comfortable with travel. The consequence of lifting masking restrictions will be an unnecessary increase in COVID cases.
We also continue to see new variants (mutations) of the virus emerge. Fortunately, vaccinated individuals are well protected from the currently known variants. We can only hope that a variant won’t emerge that the vaccine won’t cover. Each day that Americans continue to act as if the pandemic is over increases our risk that a vaccine-resistant variant will emerge. We can only hope that science goes against the grain and sides with human behavior.
Please continue to remain safe. We recommend continued masking particularly around those who have not been fully vaccinated or if you don’t know their vaccination status. It’s also important to know that the COVID vaccine has been proven to prevent 95% of severe COVID cases requiring hospitalization and death, but there is still a risk for contracting the virus and spreading it to others who are vulnerable. This pandemic is not over yet!
