CDC director Rochelle Walensky. They sent someone else out to make this latest announcement
It was clear early in the pandemic, when the CDC was recommending gloves but not masks, that they were not to be trusted. They relaxed then reinstated the mask recommendations when variants were raging, fudged their own metrics so that they could claim that the spread was waning when it wasn’t and put countless people and kids at risk. They also reduced the quarantine time in a clear nod to business interests over people’s health. So now that they’re doing it yet again, is anyone surprised? They’re going to be telling us it’s cool to eat stuff off the floor next. “The five second rule is kind of strict, as long as it’s the same day and there’s no visible feces on the floor, it’s fine.”
Last week the CDC eliminated quarantine time for close contacts regardless of vaccination status. They also got rid of the “test to stay” program for schools, which allowed unvaccinated children to go to school only if they tested negative. Now it doesn’t matter if a child is unvaccinated, vaccinated or tests negative, they can all come to school – f’ck it and f’ck teachers and school workers. The CDC’s Greta Massetti said that 95% of the population has either had covid or been vaccinated so that could be why they’re not differentiating between vaccinated and unvaccinated people.
Unvaccinated people who are exposed to the coronavirus no longer need to quarantine, according to new guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The revised recommendation, released Thursday, serves as a modification “streamline”, health officials said, aligning with guidance for those who are up to date on shots. Previously, the American public health agency recommended that unvaccinated people, or those not up to date on boosters, quarantine for five days after exposure.
In addition, people no longer need to stay six feet away from others, the agency said in a memo.
“We’re in a stronger place today as a nation, with more tools—like vaccination, boosters, and treatments—to protect ourselves, and our communities, from severe illness from COVID-19,” Greta Massetti, a senior epidemiologist at the CDC, said in a news release. “We also have a better understanding of how to protect people from being exposed to the virus, like wearing high-quality masks, testing, and improved ventilation.”
“This guidance acknowledges that the pandemic is not over, but also helps us move to a point where COVID-19 no longer severely disrupts our daily lives,” she added…
The CDC now advises that those exposed to the virus should wear a high-quality mask for 10 days, and to get tested for the viral disease on day five.
If a person tests positive for COVID, they should stay at home for at least five days and isolate from others inside their home.
“We know that COVID-19 is here to stay,” Massetti said at a news briefing on Thursday, per The New York Times. “High levels of population immunity due to vaccination and previous infection, and the many tools that we have available to protect people from severe illness and death, have put us in a different place…”
Two and a half years after the pandemic began, an estimated 95% of Americans 16 and older have gained some level of immunity, either from being vaccinated or infected, the CDC said, the Associated Press reported.
It’s not a “severe disruption” to wear a mask in public. I get that they’re specifying between people who are actively sick and asymptomatic cases. Plus, in their official, extremely detailed and somewhat confusing statement, they’re recommending masks for people who were exposed and vaccinations for everyone. However, so many people are going to ignore this, go out without masks and send their kids to school sick. Again and again, we’ve seen the CDC try to make subtle and nuanced recommendations when lives are at risk. All they’ve had to do was tell people to wear masks and isolate after exposure. This point they’re making in the press that 95% of the population has either been vaccinated or had covid is sh-tty. Unvaccinated people can die from a second bout of covid, and a previous infection doesn’t provide enough immunity to avoid hospitalization and severe illness.
The CDC capitulated to the anti-mask anti-vax crowd and tried to play both sides. Plus, by the CDC’s own admission, a past covid infection is associated with a much higher incidence of diabetes in children. Long covid is real, it’s devastating, and chances are increased the more times you catch it. In the US, there’s almost no consideration of or accommodations for people with disabilities. Everyone has to fend for themselves. I’ll probably wear a mask most places in public for the rest of my life. I’ll take some calculated risks, but my general distrust in people and organizations has been more than confirmed these past couple years. I’ll use a classic mom line – it’s disappointing, but not surprising.
I got Covid the last week and it’s no joke. I felt paralyzed and couldn’t breathe. I missed a week of work
That stinks. I hope that you are on the mend and that you make a full recovery.
My son and I got covid in May, a parent sent their kid to school with symptoms w/o a rapid test.
It was awful. I couldn’t stop coughing, headache and the worst body aches. I didn’t know your body could feel like that. My body was aching so badly that I couldn’t sleep. Coupled with a high fever and night sweats.
Thankfully my son did not have it as hard as I did. He was sleepy for the first few days and had a cough.
Covid is no joke and we shouldn’t start treating it like a common cold. If a child is sick I want their parent to keep them home. If a co-worker is sick I want them to stay home. Last week our receptionist was wearing a mask at work. She had a sore throat and was waiting until after work to get a test. My covid started with a sore throat. I was like, you really should be at home.
and these are the so-called “mild cases”!
why is it so hard for people to stay home when they are sick? why is it so hard to wear a mask to protect others if you’ve been exposed to an infectious disease?
america’s special brand of freedumb is truly mind-boggling and it’s so upsetting that it’s metastasized during the pandemic.
Totally agree with you. “Freedum” is just an excuse for doing whatever the hell you want, and screw everyone else. True freedom also involves respect and responsibility, neither of which I see in America today. It is sad, and it makes us so much weaker as a nation.
Because so many people will lose their jobs if they do. That is one of the reasons why it was so crucial for the CDC to be the adult in the room mandating these things, bc without that companies DGAF about their employees and will go back to punishing them for being safe and/or sick.
You need to read “The Premonition: A Pandemic Story”, by Michael Lewis. It lays out the entire problem with the CDC, and how it fell from a trusted institution to being one that has become a political football that is practically bought and paid for. It shows how this went from something that *could’ve* been controlled, to becoming an out of control wildfire of infection, costing the lives of over a million Americans.
I highly recommend it!
I have it right now and wow, does it suck. I guessed correctly that I had it because I haven’t felt that sick since I was hospitalized with double pneumonia over a decade ago.
I’m in the middle of week two and I no longer feel like I’m being dragged behind a truck, but I’m still sleeping more hours than I’m awake, I can’t smell anything, I have no appetite and this low grade headache is the worst.
My family has avoided it for 2 1/2 years with me in healthcare, hubby travelling for work, 1 kid in grade school and 1 in college, everyone vaxxed and boosted. We all got it last week. I’m so mad about how many steps I took to avoid it.
But maybe all those steps you took to avoid it saved you from earlier bouts, If you hadn’t done that, you might be getting your 2nd or 3rd cases, which can increase the odds of Long COVID…
It’s disappointing to see that they’ve caved to public pressure and also seemed resigned to the fact that so many people have a mindset of “screw the government and the CDC.” They should have stuck with the masking in public spaces requirements, the amount of people in public spaces, and gone BACK to 6 feet apart. School has started for some and will start for everyone soon and with Monkey pox out there it is going to be a sh*t storm.
If hospitals require masking I’ll keep my mask for all public spaces. It doesn’t hurt to practice safe protocols
School starts for my kids on Wednesday and they will be masking. We are coming up on flu season and I expect a surge in covid cases. Even if I’m wrong, I’d rather be proactive in keeping them safe.
Same here. I have been traveling the last week and was in so many crowded places. Wouldn’t have dreamed of going maskless!
No matter what they say, I will still masking stores and public places. I am a guardian to a sick family member and have other family who have fragile health. I am vaccinated and double boosted.
I will be working as a ballot clerk in the NH primary and yes, I will wear a mask.
Same.
Um-and where are they with monkey pox?! Jesus-dropping the ball with this in a big way.
There’s also a new strain of hepatitis in kids that’s linked to COVID infections. I work with people with disabilities, and even in mild cases, we’re seeing individuals who’ve never had seizures develop seizure disorders, dementia-like symptoms, their psychotropic meds no longer work, and mobility issues. This is no joke and I’m sick of business and the “economy” which is just the super-rich, determining how to address these pandemics. It’s only going to get worse.
I feel defeated hearing this. We may be sick of COVID, but COVID is not sick of us. It will only continue to mutate if the majority become complacent, which is what I fear is happening already. I see so many people without masks, but I’m continuing to wear one, simply because the one time I became complacent, I contracted COVID. It was much worse than a cold, and I’ve only just gotten over long COVID. I do not want it again.
The only time I was lax about mask wearing was when I was on vacation with my family overseas and we’re all vaccinated. Even then, I still wore my mask inside 90% of the time. I only took it off when we were outside and eating together.
I have a teenage nephew who is as diligent as I am, but my brother was constantly nagging him that mask wearing around us was unnecessary. But guess who came down with COVID right after returning from our vacation? My brother and his whole family. I’m sure my nephew is side eyeing the fuck out of my brother right now. Luckily it’s been mild cases for all of them.
That said, nobody can tell me shit, CDC or otherwise. I will continue to mask up in public for the foreseeable future. I’m hoping that a Omicron version of the vaccine will come out this fall and I can relax a bit in social settings.
CDC has not been completely reliable since the very beginning so we also use other sources and use our own common sense.
Apparently the CDC has just given up on the “Control” part of their name.
The CDC as an organization is basically worthless and they have damaged their reputation so much I’m not certain it can ever be repaired. Please know I am not talking about the day to day employees. I am sure they are mostly amazing and principled pros. I am talking about these fools at the top. They are either liars or incompetent. Or both.
The CDC completely abandoned those of us who are high risk a long time ago. It’s despicable. They’re more of a propaganda machine than a respected health organization now.
To get real information, I go straight to epidemiologists who are kind enough to give updates and advice on social media and still take COVID seriously. I don’t know who else to trust anymore.
What epidemiologists are you following?
On TikTok:
Epidemiologists:
snackpax.epi (I’m not on Twitter but I think he has one)
epidemiologistkat (she also has an Instagram)
Immunologist:
laughterinlight
Other doctors who often share COVID news and advice:
drsiyabmd
rubin_allergy
tifftastic75
I follow Katelyn Jetelina (aka Your Local Epidemiologist), whose newsletter has been a lifeline for me throughout all of… THIS.
Just to add to the recs above, other excellent doctor accounts that I follow on insta are:.
epidemiologistkat
eric2687
dr_michael_says
dr.jon.lx
unbiasedscipod
Another great resource is the People’s CDC: https://peoplescdc.org/
@Deesea – yes, cosign Katelyn Jetelina from Your Local Epidemiologist!
Yes to LIL, she’s great. Also Eric Feigl-Ding on twitter.
Seconding Your Local Epidemiologist.
That’s what people have been doing for going on two years. The people who want to wear masks, wear masks. The people who got vaccinated and boosted, got vaccinated and boosted. The people who religiously wash their hands and/or use hand sanitizer do that and still do.
At my local school, once the teachers and other school workers were staying home the recommended 10-14 days, and there weren’t enough subs to go around, suddenly the school workers were all supposed to go to work unless they had a fever. Same as any other communicable disease.
Once it started affecting the bottom line, rules changed real fast. And parents ALWAYS send their kids to school sick. They have for 100 years. Not all parents of course but there’s a few in every bunch. They give the kids tylenol in the morning so when it wears off around 10, the school calls the parents who can’t leave work until their lunch break, so the kids are at school another two hours…it’s a vicious cycle. Parents need to be able to stay home with their kids when they are sick but companies don’t recognize it. This happened when kids had Covid and were sent to school too.
I’ve had it twice, a month apart. First time my symptoms were very minor and was still able to work from home. Second time they were much worse and I spent a day in the hospital. My working theory based on my degree in infectious diseases from Google, is that the second time was the newest variant and thus vaccination was less effective. I’m vaxxed and boosted, thank god because it could have been so much worse. But the point is…vaccination rates and rates of people who’ve had it are no reason to get complacent and pretend it’s still not a big deal.
All everybody had to do was act right, wear a mask, wash your hands, keep a distance and get a free shot.
But some of y’all didn’t want to because of ‘muh freedum’.
The CDC is telling y’all a hard head makes a soft behind.
It’s crazy how differently it affects people. A friend of mine (23, healthy, fit) got it and was wiped out for 1.5 weeks and didn’t test positive until day 5, her boyfriend got it at same time- mild head cold – tested positive immediately, his mum got it and had a slight sore throat, and her mother got it (they were all staying together) and tested positive immediately but had no symptoms at all!
It sound like very man for himself. I’m so glad I am not in America right now. I have heard about the stories of people getting harassed in public areas for wearing by mask. A few times a week I have to go to the office in Tokyo. Although it’s a company full of foreigns everybody complies with COVID safety measures. Why American do to this? It’s just to be “safe” so everybody can keep a bit of normal life.
I’m always amazed by how confidently people will insist that masking does nothing when clearly the opposite is true. My family went two years without so much as a sniffle or a stomachache. They lifted mask requirements in schools on March 1 and two weeks later everyone was sick.
The CDC has become so politicized, I wonder if this has anything to do with upcoming midterms. (Which would paradoxically benefit those of us who, you know, believe in things like science.) I dunno though, maybe I’m being naively optimistic. It’s happened before.
My other thought is that these “changes” really don’t change much. I haven’t seen mass mask-wearing or social-distancing in many months. Since early 2022 our schools have said that kids with confirmed exposures (like a sibling with COVID) should … just keep coming to school. The masks came off in schools around March, and COVID predictably raged through them shortly afterwards. Nobody seemed to care. My work (in health care no less) has been telling us to come to work anyway if we’re asymptomatic positive since 2021. Vaccine-refusers weren’t following any of the guidelines anyway, so I think the CDC gave up on restricting everyone else who’s been doing the right thing, since the COVID genie is way, way, way out of the bottle now and it ain’t getting stuffed back in.
This absolutely has to do with the midterms. Democrats feel (probably correctly) that they can’t lose the support of Big Business, so they’re sticking with a business-friendly approach to covid measures and justifying it by telling themselves that people can take advantage of vaccines/masks/Paxlovid to minimize harm.
The problem with this is while those measures HELP, they don’t stop covid from spreading and continually mutating, and they don’t prevent Long Covid. (For that, people need to use all of those safety measures, plus–and I’m sorry to say this–STAY HOME MORE.) We are STILL losing over 3000 Americans per week to Covid, and the CDC quietly released a statement last week that estimated that 8% of the nation has some form of Long Covid:
https://twitter.com/_mbdr_/status/1558122456300355585?s=20&t=Dav09Ub9Z8g-P_HsUckT8Q
That is INSANE. I understand that the economy matters, but if in five years we’ve all caught covid 6 times and now a full 30% of the population has Long Covid, what happens to the economy then? We are making the same mistakes with covid that we have always made with Global Warming: choosing short-term economic gain over long-term, potentially devastating pain.
Yes, remember when at the start of covid they were actually saying that masks are not recommended because you will still touch your face and then (I think) the rationale was you would infect yourself somehow? Yet simultaneously saying that the masks were needed for healthcare workers–who supposedly won’t touch their faces? That was such obvious BS and I haven’t paid attention to the CDC recommendations since then.
Think for yourself. Don’t expect the virus to make an exception for you. Use hand sanitizer. Wear a mask. Get vaccinated and boosted and remember that the immunity builds in the weeks after your shot so plan accordingly. Take your Vitamin D. Have plenty of at-home covid tests at hand so you can be a good citizen of the world. Then get on with your life and enjoy it at your own risk level.
IIRC, in the beginning there were a) simply not enough masks anywhere and b) most experts thought the risk of transmission through touching surfaces was high. It wasn’t, as it turns out. But at the time it made sense to say well, if people keep touching the mask – which would collect a lot of virus – and then touch everything else, it’s counterproductive. Turns out it’s not really a risk and transmission happens via aerosols etc.
I’m boosted and had Covid weeks ago. Not going to lie, I’ve relaxed my mask wearing a little, as have most people in Germany. I’m probably going to go back to being more diligent in the fall but Germany has relaxed most Covid rules except for masks on public transport, in doctors’ offices, hospitals etc.
What they should have said was that masks work, but please save them for health care workers. Obviously, people are selfish jerks who can’t be trusted to do the right thing. Unfortunately, it completely muddled the message that masks works and gave ammunition to those who felt Covid was a hoax. Not to mentioned it made them look incompetent
We’ve all been watching this shitshow for well over two years now. I’m completely convinced that even if communication from the government (here in Germany as well ) had been A+ from day one, people would’ve still “done their own research” etc. I’ve lost all faith in people’s critical thinking skills and I’m also tired of always blaming authorities. We all have a responsibility to look out for one another and millions upon millions just don’t give a f*ck. It’s a harsh truth we need to face.
It was a new virus, it was a pandemic. Experts were always going to change their message according to new information but that’s apparently too much for many people to handle. Mistakes were made, no doubt. But people make mistakes.
It wasn’t the CDC it was the US Surgeon General who told the public that wearing a mask would INCREASE your risk of contracting covid. I will never forgive that man.
I’m a kindergarten teacher. I also love how CDC said that prisons and retirement homes were high risk COVID situations, but schools were not. Kids are packed in like sardines in schools. You are absolutely right. Parents send sick kids to school all the time. This fall is going to be another nightmare again.
My son came home from school with Covid in may because his teacher was coming to school with Covid. Of course the rest of us got it even though we are fully vaccinated and boosted. I’ve had an on/off cough ever since. With school beginning in a couple of weeks, I’ve made sure my son is now boosted as well (he just turned 12). I waited until it was closer to school starting because I don’t trust other parents and I wanted him to have a fresh level of protection. This variant is sneaky and presents like a cold. At least that’s why I felt like. Now anytime any of us coughs or has the sniffles, I worry it’s Covid again. Not trying to get sick again, that’s for sure.
I was in Mexico City recently and everyone wore a mask!! Even outside in crowds! It’s not hard. Americans are so selfish. I will also continue to wear my mask in public spaces forever too because—yeah have to keep myself and loved ones safe.
I’m in Canada, and I can tell you many Canadians are selfish too ! I see one or two people in masks when I go out. I get funny looks because I continue to wear a mask (actually I double mask).
This is infuriating in about nine million different ways. I must have missed when the CDC recommended a comprehensive overhaul of ventilation requirements in all public spaces… and the fact that we’re all still pretending that a “mild” case means you won’t have any consequences like increased risk of cardiovascular issues (spoiler: even an asymptomatic case can result in adverse health conditions, and a “mild” case can become long covid).
How are people who don’t have sick or vacation time supposed to isolate responsibly? How is parents having to stay home with sick kids not considered a disruption to the work force? How is letting the virus rip through the population, killing thousands of people per week and disabling a considerable percentage considered the best case scenario instead of actually doing literally anything to suppress it? It’s just maddening, especially from an administration that started out saying that they would literally cure cancer to now sacrificing immunocompromised cancer patients (and everyone else) on the alter of the economy.
And I will continue to mask in public because I have anxiety about not just Covid, but monkeypox and anything else that might be going around that they won’t tell us for fear of mass hysteria.
You have to think for yourself with this. I was the only one with a mask last weekend at my local grocery store, but no one was mean to me, they probably thought I was unvaccinated or immune compromised.
Why can’t people behave? Why can’t you just f*cking wear a mask? The pandemic is not over. I see very few people with masks on…even at the doctor’s office ! Not only do we have to still worry about Covid, now there’s monkeypox and polio circulating too. Add climate change to the nightmare, and this is straight out of a horror movie. It’s all so unreal.
This wholesale relaxation of requirements is making me worry that my employer will follow suit and start letting unvaxed people into the office again. I haven’t been going to the office much anyway, but if they get rid of that, I will just stop going altogether.
And I’m definitely still wearing my mask in most public spaces. I (knock on wood) have escaped getting infected so far, but I also live by myself, so I don’t think I have as much exposure as those who don’t live alone.
Seems to me that a lot of you commenters really enjoy the hysteria-ride. Are you a little bit sad that the world is moving on?
Nice try Dilly. Yes, we’re all enjoying the ride to hell. Are you? We aren’t walking around with our eyes and ears covered like some people. We keeps our nose and mouths covered instead lol…which everyone should do.
I got covid twice in 6 weeks and it had to be different variants since one left me asymptomatic and the other I was symptomatic. I still wear a mask inside stores and elsewhere but during gatherings with friends I don’t. I can’t expect to wear a mask around everyone forever but I will probably wear one in stores for the rest of my life.
Not surprised by this. CDC basically admitted defeat and threw their hands up. I don’t personally mask anymore, mainly because I don’t go many places other than the grocery store which I try to go during off hours. I work from home too. I don’t think the cloth and paper masks are that helpful and I don’t think expecting people, especially kids to wear n95s is Realistic. I really thought the vaccines were the magic bullet to this and have to admit they weren’t as good as most of us hoped. Even the young kids ones aren’t that affective which is disappointing but hopefully better than nothing. It’s such a mess. I’ve been trying by to keep my families immune system up with zinc, D, c and other stuff and hope that helps. I try to get my young kids outside in the sun and fresh air as much as I can. My kids are too young for school so we don’t have that stress right now. My toddler goes to a weekly library class and is vaxxed and so far she hasn’t had symptoms of covid.
I do wish more people would stop smoking and work toward a healthy weight since obesity and smoking are huge factors in covid deaths. I have an Acquaintance who demands people double mask and stay home on social media yet she is a heavy smoker, drinker and very obese and constantly gets covid.
I try not to judge others but Americans are very unhealthy overall with diet and weight and that is a huge reason it’s much more deadly for our country than other (yes there are other factors as well like lower vax rates, no or poor healthcare, etc) but I do think we should all do our best to eat as well as we can and Exercise and stop heavy drinking/drug use and smoking as well and help out people who don’t have access to healthy foods and tools to get healthier.
I just spent the day swatting anti-mask, anti-vax trolls on social media who swarmed our parents-want-safe-air-in-schools account. They hate clean air. They hate outdoor eating, in CA. They hate being required to take an antigen test before school starts. They hate anyone who disagrees with them. They hate teachers. They hate disabled people. They hate science. And I’m so tired. I just don’t want my family to get covid again from another asshat who sends their coughing kid to school again. 2.5 months later, I’m still forgetting words and get chest pain. And these are trolls driving political calculations and, by extent, the CDC.