On April 27, 2021, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) eased its guidelines on wearing masks outside, saying fully vaccinated people did not need masks outdoors unless they were in a crowd of strangers. Public health experts largely supported the new guidance. SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is mostly transmitted through the air in the form of droplets or aerosols and fresh air disperses these. While outdoor transmission can occur, especially during contact-sports, studies suggest indoor transmission is around 19 times more common than outdoor transmission. The CDC was signaling where we ought to be focusing our efforts at preventative measures: indoor settings, especially poorly ventilated spaces with lots of unmasked, unvaccinated people...
...Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Ohio and Michigan immediately ended their indoor mask mandates in the wake of the new CDC guidance, as did major chain stores like Walmart, Trader Joe’s, and Costco. These states and companies are ceding their power to implement population- and business-wide policies that protect the health of all, and instead are just hoping for the best: that the unvaccinated will still wear masks indoors to protect themselves and others from illness, long COVID, and death. But hope is a weak public health strategy...
...The Biden Administration and the CDC have adopted a new rhetoric of personal responsibility that does not match the reality of the pandemic today. The government is abandoning its responsibility to keep the population healthy...
...The CDC clearly jumped the gun with its new guidance. It will leave vulnerable people—especially essential workers—unprotected and could increase their risk of infection...
The dangers of both droplets and aerosols
ReplyDeleteCan be countered with masks and parasols
While the authorities engage in stonewall
We are about to witness another snowball.