NATION
6A — BAKER CITY HERALD
SATURDAY, MAY 15, 2021
Is it time to dress
up your ride?
Mary Colurso/TNS
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced on Thursday, May 13 that
fully vaccinated people don’t need to wear face masks in most situations.
MASKS
Continued from Page 5A
To date about 154 million
Americans, more than 46% of
the population, have received
at least one dose of COVID-19
vaccine and more than 117
million are fully vaccinated.
The rate of new vaccinations
has slowed in recent weeks,
but with the authorization
Wednesday of the Pfi zer shot
for children ages 12 to 15, a
new burst of doses is expected
in the coming days.
Just two weeks ago, the
CDC recommended that fully
vaccinated people continue
to wear masks indoors in all
settings and outdoors in large
crowds.
During a virtual meeting
Tuesday on vaccinations
with a bipartisan group of
governors, Biden appeared to
acknowledge that his admin-
istration had to do more to
model the benefi ts of vaccina-
tion.
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox,
a Republican, told Biden: “I
would like to say that we have
fully vaccinated people; we
should start acting like it. And
that’s a big motivation get the
unvaccinated to want to get
vaccinated.”
“Good point,” Biden
“I would like to say that we have fully vaccinated
people; we should start acting like it.”
— Utah Gov. Spencer Cox
responded. He added, “We’re
going to be moving on that in
the next little bit.”
Walensky said evidence
from the U.S. and Israel shows
the vaccines are as strongly
protective in real world use as
they were in earlier studies,
and that so far they continue
to work even though some
worry mutated versions of the
virus are spreading.
The more people continue
to get vaccinated, the faster
infections will drop — and the
harder it will be for the virus
to mutate enough to escape
vaccines, she stressed, urging
everyone 12 and older who’s
not yet vaccinated to sign up.
And while some people still
get COVID-19 despite being
vaccinated, Walensky said,
that’s rare. She cited evidence
that those infections tend to
be milder, shorter and harder
to spread to others. If people
who are vaccinated do develop
COVID-19 symptoms, they
should immediately put their
mask back on and get tested,
she said.
There are some caveats.
Walensky encouraged people
who have weak immune
systems, such as from organ
transplants or cancer treat-
ment, to talk with their
doctors before shedding their
masks. That’s because of
continued uncertainty about
whether the vaccines can rev
up a weakened immune sys-
tem as well as they do normal,
healthy ones.
The new guidance had an
immediate effect at the White
House, which has taken a
cautious approach to easing
virus restrictions. Staffers
were informed that masks are
no longer required for people
who are fully vaccinated.
And Biden, who was meeting
with vaccinated Republican
lawmakers in the Oval Offi ce
when the guidance was an-
nounced, led the group in re-
moving their masks Thursday
afternoon.
First lady Jill Biden, who
was traveling in West Vir-
ginia, told reporters that “we
feel naked,” after the guidance,
as she and her party removed
their face coverings. Then she
paused. “I didn’t mean it that
way!”
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Thank You, Health Care Workers!
You’ve worked tirelessly this past year saving lives, keeping spirits up, and
comforting the sick and grieving. On behalf of all the lives you’ve touched,
thank you.