Posted on 09/26/2022 5:48:07 PM PDT by lightman
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a change to its guidance late last week and will no longer require nursing homes and hospitals to require masking in some areas.
In a revision on Sept. 23, the CDC said that nursing home facilities and hospitals in a number of areas without “high” community transmission can choose not to require” all doctors, patients, and visitors to wear masks. It’s one of many changes to the CDC’s COVID-19 guidance since August when the agency’s leadership announced an overhaul of how it responds to pandemics.
“Updates were made to reflect the high levels of vaccine-and infection-induced immunity and the availability of effective treatments and prevention tools,” the CDC said.
Recent CDC data used to inform health care facilities shows that about 73 percent of counties in the United States are seeing “high” community transmission of COVID-19. About 26.9 percent, meanwhile, are meeting low, moderate, or substantial transmission, according to the data, indicating that facilities in those areas don’t have to mandate masks.
“Community transmission is the metric currently recommended to guide select practices in healthcare settings to allow for earlier intervention, before there is strain on the healthcare system and to better protect the individuals seeking care in these settings,” the CDC stated in its updated guidance.
Early on in the pandemic, the CDC recommended everyone wear masks or respirators in health care facilities or nursing homes. Exceptions were later included visitors who choose not to wear masks if they had updated COVID-19 vaccines and were alone with the person they were visiting.
“Vaccination status is no longer used to inform source control, screening testing, or post-exposure recommendations,” the guidance now says.
Holly Harmon, a senior vice president for the American Health Care Association as well as the National Center for Assisted Living, praised the recent CDC guidance change.
“While our commitment to infection prevention and control continues, adapting COVID protocols means recognizing the current stage of this pandemic as well as the importance of quality of life for our nation’s seniors,” Harmon said, reported CBS News. Overhaul
In mid-August, new guidelines published by the federal agency no longer recommend staying at least six feet away from other people to reduce exposure.
And the agency stated at the time that it’s no longer recommending unvaccinated people to quarantine after exposure. Unvaccinated people who have been in close contact with an infected person aren’t advised to go through a five-day quarantine period if they haven’t tested positive or shown symptoms.
“CDC’s COVID-19 prevention recommendations no longer differentiate based on a person’s vaccination status because breakthrough infections occur, though they are generally mild, and persons who have had COVID-19 but are not vaccinated have some degree of protection against severe illness from their previous infection,” the CDC said at the time amid additional announced changes.
But notably, the CDC is still requiring non-citizen international travelers to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination before entering the United States, according to its website. The agency dropped testing for international travelers in June.
The Canadian government on Monday is ending its requirements that travelers crossing the U.S.–Canada border have to show proof of vaccination starting Oct. 1.
I’ve been doing outpatient workouts in a local rehab facility, where everyone in the rehab gym is required to wear masks. Last Friday, their corporate decided to require masks and face shields for all the techs, and they were furious, but they complied. This is in FL, so it has nothing to do with state regs.
Translation: "Vaccinations are known to be useless."
Bad news is that almost all of the US is considered “high” for “community transmission”
Yup.
Buried in an end of the day/end of the week news release aka Friday afternoon fart.
Sitting in a doc’s office wearing a muzzle that comes from a box that says NOT FOR USE IN HEALTHCARE SETTINGS does not inspire respect for the medical profession.
So are muzzles.
@ 3 ‘For the win’
SSSSSSHHHHHHHH
That's the big story for October.
Wife went to an appointment at a big doctor’s building in a huge medical complex today.
Upon entering:
“You have to have a mask.”
“Do you have one for me? I don’t have one.”
“No.”
Proceeded to her appointment, nothing else said.
Gee thanks CDC. We’re still going to hang you after a fair and speedy trial.
That’s how it is in a lot of medical places in Tucson these days. Even if they have signs and so forth, nobody seems to care too much, staff or patients. I don’t wear a mask if I can possibly avoid it, and generally I can.
I went to an eye doctor a couple weeks ago.
Receptionist: “Do you have a mask?”
Me: “No”
Receptionist: “Do you want one?”
Me: “No”
End of story.
This is in FL, so it has nothing to do with state regs.
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Stupidity is rampant in government but it’s not limited to government.
“high” community transmission
Yeah, whatever. How many people do you know right now that have covid or have had it in the past three months?
I think when the smoke clears the mask pushers need to PAY for what they did to all of us. Example...how many kid’s educations were severely hampered? For what Fauci, for what?
This mask bullshit has always been mask bullshit.
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