Time to Unmask

By David Ganezer

5/13/21: We've all become used to covering our faces everywhere, and no longer seeing our neighbors smile. But as announced Thursday morning by the Director of the Centers for Disease Control, and echoed by US President Joseph Biden, there is no longer a need to wear a mask whether indoors or outdoors.

“Anyone who is fully vaccinated can participate in indoor and outdoor activities, large or small, without wearing a mask or physically distancing,” CDC Director Rochelle Walesnky told a virtual press conference. “If you are fully vaccinated, you can start doing the things that we have stopped doing because of the pandemic.”

Under the new guidance, the CDC says Americans who have been fully vaccinated; i.e. those who received their final dose more than 14 days ago, need not wear masks for most indoor or outdoor activities. Dr. Walesnky said the updated guidance reflected new data and scientific literature.

President Biden credited an "all out effort" to vaccinate Americans. About half of the U.S. adult population is vaccinated. "The CDC is saying they have concluded that fully vaccinated people are at a very low risk of getting Covid...Please protect yourself until you get to the finished line," said, Biden, slurring his words.

"The safest thing for this country, is getting vaccinated," Biden continued. "95% of you live within five miles of those locations," meaning vaccination centers.

The administration has found itself under increasing pressure to remove the Federal mask mandate that Biden enacted the day he was sworn in, fulfilling a campaign promise. TV personalities on FoxNews have been saying for a while that being able to take off one's mask indoors, should be held out as a reward for vaccination. Recently, even Don Lemon has been saying “let’s go back to normal, I want to see my parents again,” on CNN.

Preceding Biden's speech, the CDC announced changes for its mask guidance, saying people who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 can cease physical distancing and mask wearing in most situations.

The end of the mask mandate does raise a question: If you walk into a Post Office or a grocery store where some are wearing masks and others aren't, how will you know who's really been vaccinated?

The CDC’s recommendations only apply to people who have been fully vaccinated, and don’t apply when inside of homeless shelters, corrections centers, health care facilities or in places where masks are required by law. Walensky also said immunocompromised people should consult with their physician on what they should do first.

But no one can doubt that 14 months after the pandemic began, the most visible aspect of it is ending. For now anyway.