The CDC announced last week that those who are fully vaccinated can stop wearing masks outside, and in many cases, inside as well. After over a year of struggling to get the American people to accept mask wearing as a \u201cnormal\u201d part of pandemic life, the CDC began the process of returning to \u201creal\u201d normal life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Masks became the symbol of all the politics that surrounded COVID. It was one of the sure signs of political affiliation: voters for Biden wore masks, many voters for \u201cthe other guy\u201d did not. Masks became a sign of \u201cpolitical speech\u201d. What should have been a reasonable public health action, became an exercise in the First Amendment: \u201cIf I can wear a shirt with a political slogan, I can choose not to wear a mask\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The pandemic began with mask confusion. The reality was \u2013 there weren\u2019t enough masks for hospitals and other medical settings. So the CDC, and the guru of America\u2019s pandemic response, Dr. Fauci, didn\u2019t mandate mask wearing for the general public. They were afraid that the populace would snatch up all of the available supply, and leave hospital workers even more vulnerable than they already were.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Once the mask supply was stabilized, then the CDC advised everyone to wear masks. But the damage was already done. Videos of Dr. Fauci saying \u201cmasks aren\u2019t necessary\u201d were played over and over. Meanwhile, the President was in the process of promising the pandemic would be over by Easter, then Memorial Day, then the Fourth of July. So the political fight was on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Masks, by the way, work. Mask wearing allowed many schools to open, and clearly prevented disease. If you still question that \u2013 look at the flu epidemic of 2020. There wasn\u2019t one, in fact, numbers for the flu were almost non-existent. Masks stopped the flu, and it reduced the much more infectious COVID 19 as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We were told by those medical professionals on the \u201cmask\u201d side, and even those who seemed to be in favor of just letting it go, that the goal was \u201cherd immunity\u201d. The idea, that we would reach a percentage of folks who either already had COVID, or later, were vaccinated, that the virus would stop spreading. More importantly, \u201cherd immunity\u201d would reduce the risk of viral mutations that could thwart vaccines and treatments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The number varied, but it was generally accepted that 80% of the population would need to be \u201cimmune\u201d before herd immunity would kick in. And once \u201cOperation Warp Speed\u201d succeeded in helping produce multiple vaccines \u2013 we thought that \u201cherd immunity\u201d was in sight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But vaccines got mired in politics as well. Folks from \u201cthe right\u201d said the vaccine was another infringement on their \u201crights\u201d. Folks from the anti-vaxxer world (many on \u201cthe left\u201d) warned that the vaccines were rushed and untested. By the way, those arguments might have had more strength, if we didn\u2019t already know that the anti-vaxxers would be against the vaccines regardless \u2013 they would find any reason for opposition. (It is with sadness that one of the leading anti-vaxxers is the son of one of my great political heroes \u2013 Robert Kennedy).<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The politics create enough friction that it\u2019s unlikely that the United States will ever reach a \u201cherd immunity\u201d status. Instead, pandemic experts now say we will have to continue to modify vaccines to meet the changing mutations, and develop more effective treatment for those who become infected. We won\u2019t end the pandemic \u2013 we\u2019ll learn to live with it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But vaccination is still important. And the CDC recognizes that there needs to be some \u201creward\u201d for being vaccinated. The numbers (\u201cthe science\u201d) seem pretty clear. Vaccinations have a 90% or better rate of preventing infection, and an almost 100% rate of preventing hospitalization or death. So get vaccinated \u2013 and the CDC has provided the reward. Take off your mask!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n What about those not vaccinated? Their choice \u2013 now \u2013 and their risk. Vaccines are so available that they are giving rewards for getting them. Ohio pays one vaccinated person a million dollars \u2013 every week. In New York, you can get \u201ca shot and a shot\u201d at your local bar. So if someone chooses not to get vaccinated then they risk infection. COVID, like polio and the measles, has not \u201cgone away\u201d. It\u2019s simply been \u201ctamped down\u201d by the masks, and now by vaccinations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So not wearing masks will definitely increase the incidence of COVID infection \u2013 but not likely among the vaccinated (and those with immunity from having had the disease). But the argument goes \u2013 if you won\u2019t get vaccinated, you probably weren\u2019t wearing a mask anyway. So why \u201cpunish\u201d those who are following public health recommendations?<\/p>\n\n\n\n I am a track and field official these days \u2013 spending many evenings and Saturdays outside on the track. Even before the \u201cscience\u201d caught up, we knew that being outside made COVID infection less likely. Look at the Black Lives Matter protests last June, that we thought would create \u201csuper-spreader\u201d events. They didn\u2019t. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019ve been wearing a mask at every meet. There\u2019s lots of kids (not vaccinated) and lots of \u201cheavy breathing\u201d going on. In the next few weeks I\u2019ll be on the track a lot more as the high school season finishes up. I\u2019ll be standing beside a runway, unintentionally \u201csocially distanced\u201d from athletes, coaches and spectators, officiating pole vault and long jump. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If the Ohio High School Athletic Association tells me I have to keep my mask on \u2013 I\u2019ll do it.\u00a0\u00a0But I\u2019m fully vaccinated (Pfizer), and if they give me the go ahead \u2013 it\u2019s masks off for me too.\u00a0\u00a0I\u2019ll be happy to put my sunglasses back on \u2013 no masks means no fogging up!!!!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Masks Off<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Me<\/h3>\n\n\n\n