Fully vaccinated people can visit with each other indoors without masks, according to new CDC guidance
Below is an excerpt from an article published in McKnight’s Senior Living featuring comments from HCCI’s President and COO, Julie Sacks
Author: Joe Jancsurak | McKnight’s Senior Living | March 9, 2021
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Monday released guidance regarding mask wearing, social distancing and other protocols for vaccinated people in non-healthcare settings.
Fully vaccinated people can do the following, according to the new recommendations:
- Visit with other fully vaccinated people indoors without wearing masks or physical distancing
- Visit with unvaccinated people from a single household who are at low risk for severe COVID-19 disease indoors without wearing masks or physical distancing
- Refrain from quarantine and testing following a known exposure if asymptomatic
The guidance “represents a first step toward returning to everyday activities in our communities,” the CDC said. “There are some activities that fully vaccinated people can begin to resume now in the privacy of their own homes,” said Rochelle P. Walensky, M.D., director of the CDC.
Industry leaders welcomed the guidance. “The easing of these restrictions is a welcome change and one that has the potential to improve quality of life for all involved,” said Julie Sacks, president and chief operating officer of the Home Centered Care Institute, a nonprofit organization focused on advancing home-based primary care (HBPC) to ensure that chronically ill, medically complex and homebound patients have access to high-quality care in their home.
She noted that many patients who receive home-based primary care struggled with social isolation, even prior to the pandemic. “The restrictions we’ve had to live with this past year have just added to that social isolation, leaving many who already interacted with very few family members or friends even more susceptible to a decline in both their physical and mental health,” she told McKnight’s Home Care Daily.