That "six month trial" ended about five months ago.
Posted on 03/25/2021 2:38:21 PM PDT by lightman
March 25 (UPI) -- Wearing masks in public and practicing social distancing may be part of the "new normal" in the United States for a while, even as the percentage of those vaccinated against COVID-19 increases, experts from Johns Hopkins University said Thursday.
Although daily new case totals across the country have "plateaued" at about 50,000, the country will need to see a "continued decline in the number of [infections], hospitalizations and deaths" before restrictions can be relaxed, according to Keri Althoff, an associate professor of epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore.
In addition, more of the country will need to be vaccinated against the virus, she said during a conference call with reporters hosted by the school.
The United States will need to see a significant drop in new cases and increase in the numbers of those vaccinated "before we can start thinking about what a new normal will look like," Althoff told reporters on the call.
"We're not out of the woods yet, so even those who have been vaccinated need to continue to wear a mask in public and practice social distancing," she said.
As of Wednesday, 85.4 million people in the United States have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and 46.3 million people, or 14% of the population, are fully inoculated against the virus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Being fully vaccinated means they have received either one dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine or two doses of the vaccine from Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna.
Although the vaccines have been found to prevent severe illness following infection in up to 95% of recipients, that does not mean those inoculated are completely protected from the virus or are unable to pass it to others, said health policy expert Colleen L. Barry, who also was on the call.
Because it remains unclear whether the vaccines help reduce spread remains, those vaccinated should continue to wear masks to protect the people around them, said Barry, chair of the department of health policy and management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
"The concern is not the vaccinated people themselves but everyone else," she said.
In addition, even those vaccinated will need to hold off on international travel to avoid bringing new variants of the virus elsewhere, or home with them, Althoff said.
"Much has been made about the partisan divide" in support for strategies designed to limit the spread of COVID-19, such as mask-wearing, social distancing and travel restrictions, Barry said.
But she noted that more than 75% of people surveyed by she and her colleagues as part of a study they published in December indicated that they understood the need for these measures.
Such support will need to continue because "this is a process, not a light switch, where we can turn off COVID-19 and turn on what our life used to be like," she said.
That "six month trial" ended about five months ago.
C’mon Man! It’s just for 2 weeks to flatten the curve.
Oh shut up.
And is it "CLEAR" that masks help reduce the spread?
Show me the real "science"!
We will have one "pandemic" after another from here on out, until someone fights back.
'Basically In A New Pandemic,' Says Merkel, As Germany Extends Lockdown
There are those on both sides who don’t want America to re open.
Check my tagline, it is past time to reopen.
So all you folks who think you're safe...you are NOT. Not one of the vaccines prevents you from getting Covid.
In a month, at most, even the most cautious people will think it all silly.
NO ....... there is no such thing as a “new normal”. There is ONLY normal!
social distancing of 3 feet? Will they half that again next year? How does anyone believe anything they say? Even if you are old and fat (therefore, at risk), why would you believe anything these people say? None of it makes any sense.
Americans are so easily manipulated. Just instill enough fear of the unknown and they’ll meekly follow.
Nope. Nope. And........NOPE!
I have 40 to 50 some people every day and very close proximity to each other we have not worn a single mask since March one year ago don’t need them don’t work not gonna wear them.
Instead of ‘new normal’ it should have been ‘experts’.
Even cutting the distance in half over and over again Zeno will never catch that rabbit.
Hot damn! EXPERTS have spoken!
Outstanding pic as well . . .
Even some on FR who are as rigid as can be. We would not be where we are right now with the country shredded and no POTUS Trump without the essential help of the GOP in Congress and in the lock down and stop and steal states. The fear and hysteria is simply pathetic and sad. The left's operation Corona is in full swing and is unstoppable until we counter attack and stop it cold but the GOP will play a very small part. It is not like America was never swallowed up in pandemic. Funny how the invader colonists and our rioters don't have to abide to any of the Corona slavery.
F################# yooooooooooooooou!
(No, not you, lightman.)
Coronavirus PING!
(Somebody's gonna report this reply! Oh, well.)
Are experimental vaccines great or what?!
Oh, go booger yourselves, please.
PING!
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