CDC Says Vaccinated People Don’t Need to Isolate after Exposure to COVID-19

People who have received full doses of COVID-19 vaccine can skip the standard 14-day quarantine rule after being exposed to an infected person, public health experts from the United States recommended. As long as they have no symptoms, of course.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said the vaccines have been shown to be effective against the appearance of symptomatic cases of COVID-19, which are believed to have a greater influence on the transmission of the virus than asymptomatic infections.

“The benefits to individuals and society of avoiding unnecessary quarantines outweigh the potential but unknown risk of transmission (among people who have already been vaccinated), ”the CDC said.

Headquarters of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia 

The agency has disclosed strict criteria for people who will no longer have to undergo a quarantine after their vaccinations, as long as they have received both full doses. Those who have already been vaccinated and decide not to quarantine anyway should be aware of the possibility of developing symptoms within 14 days after exposure to an infected person.

The two-dose vaccines from Pfizer Inc and Moderna Inc have been licensed in the United States for emergency use.. Johnson & Johnson last week requested authorization for its single-dose vaccine.

The CDC also updated its health recommendations regarding the use of masks to mitigate the transmission of COVID-19: indicated that the use of tight-fitting surgical masks, or putting a cloth one over a surgical one, significantly increases protection against the virus, both for the wearer and for third parties.

A healthcare provider administers a dose of Moderna’s vaccine against COVID-19 to a woman at a facility in New York, USA. 

The message comes after a new investigation by health entities concluded that the Transmission of the virus can be reduced by up to 96.5 percent in cases where an infected individual and another who is not infected use two masks -one surgical and one made of cloth- or one that is well adjusted.

The doctor Rochelle P. Walensky, director of the CDC, announced the outcome of the investigation during the White House coronavirus briefing on Wednesday, where called on Americans to wear a “well-fitting mask” that has two or more layers.

President Joe Biden has proposed to Americans extending the use of masks during the first 100 days of his presidency. “With hospitalizations and deaths still very high, now is not the time to reduce mask use,” he said, adding: “The bottom line is this: masks work and work when they fit well and are used correctly.”

Moderna’s Coronavirus Vaccines 

At the beginning of February, 14 states across the country and the District of Columbia had mandated the widespread use of face masks, while they are mandatory in federal public buildings and domestic and international transportation stations.

While masks are known to reduce respiratory droplets and aerosols exhaled by infected users and protect the non-infected user, its effectiveness varies widely due to air leaks around the edges of the mask. When authorities initially recommended that people wear face protection, proper face masks were in short supply and people were encouraged to wear makeshift fabric solutions taken from T-shirts or bandanas. But they were far from ideal.