Should vaccinated people wear face masks or not? How the CDC and WHO disagree

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

The World Health Organization officially recommended that people who are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus should continue wearing face masks to curb the spread of the virus, including dangerous new variants. The recommendation announced Friday comes in response to rising coronavirus cases around the world, driven by the delta variant that was first identified in India, and which has become the dominant strain in many countries around the world, including the UK, South Africa and Malaysia.

COVID-19 cases are steadily on the rise again and only 10.7% of the world is fully vaccinated. WHO's recommendation contradicts that of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a global authority on infectious diseases that has received some criticism during the pandemic. The CDC website currently advises that people who are fully vaccinated can stop wearing masks, and that groups of people can congregate -- for instance, at home or a concert. Here's what we know about the WHO's guidance on masks.

Why does the WHO say vaccinated people should wear face masks?

Wearing a mask consistently continues to be important, even for people who are vaccinated, WHO Assistant Director General Dr. Mariângela Batista Galvão Simão said during a press briefing on June 25. "People cannot feel safe just because they had the two doses. They still need to protect themselves."

Wearing masks in public places is essential to help people from inhaling particles that will cause them to become sick, Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, an American infectious disease epidemiologist, said during the same briefing.

-more-

https://www.cnet.com/health/should-vaccinated-people-wear-face-masks-or-not-how-the-cdc-and-who-disagree/

[Texaswitchy]

1. I am still wearing mine.

Both shots.

I do not mind wearing a mask.

[ChrisF1961]

2. I still wear one

despite being fully vaccinated for months. The vaccines are 100% effective and now there is the Delta variant. Why take the chance.

[Sur Zobra]

27. I don't think that the vaccines

are 100% effective. I got the Moderna shot and is 95% effective, and I’m sure the Pfizer shot also is 95%effective

[ChrisF1961]

28. You're right

I forgot the word not.

[C_U_L8R]

3. I'm wearing

I don't trust the variants (or the pundits, politicos or pharmas for that matter).
I don't want to play any part in spreading this virus further and I certainly don't want to get it.
We'll see what the fall brings.

[Ka-Dinh Oy]

4. Despite what we are told I wear mine inside in.public places.

I am fully vaccinated but plan on wearing my masks for a very long time.

[ColinC]

5. Probably. Depends where you are.

If you are hanging out in a place where there are still more people who have not been vaccinated than not, then wearing a mask is a safe bet. If you are in a place where that isn't the case, however, you might be fine to go without a mask. Either way, wearing a mask is safer than not. It is a low probably you can get covid if you are vaccinated, but that chance increases substantially if you are around a high number of unvaccinated folks.

[PortTack]

6. I wear mine when inside in public

Yes, if you get it, it’s not as severe but they still think you can have long timer symptoms...no thx

I will quit wearing my mask when 70% are vaccinated and numbers of new cases stay consistently low

[SheltieLover]

7. Delta is more contageous than smallpox! See link.

Pls read post # 4 in this link. Tweets by Dr. Dingle, Harvard epidemiologist.

First, cloth & surgical masks are not enough with delta!

Also, pls keep in mind that although breakthrough cases are said to be asymptomatic or mild, fully vaxed do spread the disease & long-haul does occur from asymptomatic & mild cases.

Yup, I've not changed my pandemic protocol & have no plan to.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100215572903

[spinbaby]

9. Oh great

I’ve switched to those lightweight surgical masks since I’ve been fully vaccinated. Guess it’s a good thing I saved the N95 masks.

[SheltieLover]

10. Me too, but I bought 2 more boxes N95 9002s

After reading what Dr. Dingle & other docs at site said!

People over 65 account for many of the breakthroughs, but younger people, fully vaxed are at risk too!

OhioChick's ER Dr. Son had 8 healthy young adults 20s-30s die in ICU in 1 week recently. Yup, fully vaxed!

Imo, the CDCs mission is to get the entire population vaccinated, not to protect individuals. Perhaps why media isn't covering this?

Stay safe!

[Runningdawg]

8. I still wear mine and that won't change deep in the Trump hive known as Oklahoma

But I am vaccinated!! The #1 most probable cause of my death now is back to gunshot wound.

[SheltieLover]

12. Glad you are being safe!

Sorry you're in red area. Me too, but in a little blue dot among very red state. Not fun.

Have you read Dr. Dingle's twitter?

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100215572903

#4 in thread. Rhiannon graciously posted them.

[Runningdawg]

17. I'm a retired OR nurse, precautions are old habits for me.

I've been out a few times since vaccination, for the most part to prepare for the next lock down. Along the borders between OK/TX and AR/MO/LA are the next hot spots.
A few months ago after our first vaccination we thought we would be optimistic and book a weekend getaway for the near future. I called a 5* spa and resort in Eureka Springs AR to make a reservation. When I asked about virus precautions the clerk laughed and hung up on me.

[SheltieLover]

19. Omg!

How incredibly rude! Not surprising though, tbh. They think denial will protect them.

Glad you are well prepared! I restocked my pandemic supplies, 2 boxes of 3M N95 9002s, canned goods & t paper.

[LisaL]

38. I don't think we are going to have lock downs again.

If covid spikes, it will just spike.
We certainly gave up on trying to eliminate it all together, and will have to learn to live with it. Removing mask mandates and opening everything up makes that clear to me.
Counties like Australia are imposing massive lockdowns trying to eliminate it, while we decided everything is back to normal even though we still have over 10,000 cases a day and Australia's are under a 100 a day.

[moonscape]

16. A friend moved to Tulsa from here

on the central CA coast a couple of months ago. I asked her last month on a zoom call how it was with masking there. She laughed at the question, said nobody was wearing them.

[Deminpenn]

11. The anecdotal evidence from a

cluster in Austrailia, iirc, and another somewhere else is that every person exposed but the vaccinated people got sick and some died.

[LisaL]

14. That's not accurate.

Vaccinated people have gotten infected in both Israel and UK delta covid spikes. In Israel, half of adults that got infected were vaccinated.
At least in UK, 50 vaccinated people died (compared to 67 un-vaccinated who died) recently from delta covid.

[Deminpenn]

31. NONE of the vaccine makers ever said no one would never get sick

if fully vaccinated. What they did say was that if a fully vaccinated person did catch SARS-CoV2, they would have a milder case, not need hospitalization and not die. Therefore, it's not accurate to continue to cite statistics about vaccinated people becoming infected as some sort of barometer.

Further, the PCR tests used to determine if one is infected are so extremely sensitive they cannot distinguish if the virus detected is dead, alive or a remnant.

[LisaL]

32. Considering fully vaccinated people have died,

you really can't claim that vaccine would prevent everyone from dying.

[Deminpenn]

36. I am fully vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine

I am not at all worried about being infected. I no longer wear a mask nor do I give much weight to the fear-mongering going around.

The clinical trials of Pfizer, Moderna and J&J all produced results showed 100% effectiveness against hospitalization and death. However, there are other vaccines being used in other countries that may not have the same effectiveness.

[LisaL]

37. 100% only happened during trials.

It's not a 100% in real life.
Vaccinated people have been infected and have died.
I don't know what else to tell ya, but if you think you are 100% protected you are not well informed.

[wcmagumba]

13. Wearing mine out in public...fully vaxed April 7...I have gotten a couple of "looks" here in red KS.

Hardly anyone around here wear them now and KS is under 50% vaxed,,,Unbelievable that I had my local "nurse" on the line yesterday about a prescription refill and she argued with me that that covid death counts were way overblown because of death from other causes still counting as a covid death...straight out of the right wing talking points...she basically "poo pooed" my need for mask wearing...Didn't hang up on her but told her she was wrong...May report her to the local office (not sure that would do any good, but they still have masks required on their door)...

[liberal_mama]

15. I'm still wearing a mask for multiple reasons even though I'm vaccinated

I'm immune compromised

Children under 12 cannot be vaccinated

Science has conflicting opinions on wearing masks right now

Delta variant is more contagious

When the CDC director says vaccinated people are safe, it doesn't mean that we can't catch Covid. I'm not actually sure what she means. I'd rather not get Covid at all and bring it home to my unvaccinated child or take the risk that my vaccine didn't produce antibodies. I don't want to risk getting long haul Covid when I've been being careful all this time.

I don't mind wearing a mask

[LisaL]

18. You can still catch covid.

Pfizer is said to be 88% effective against delta. This number is calculated based on how many vaxxed people got infected compared to un-vaxxed people.
Which means the more un-vaxxed people get infected, the more vaxxed get infected too.

[SheltieLover]

20. Glad you are being safe!

Pls read post 4 in this thread, which is a group of tweets from Harvard epidemiologist, Dr. Dingle.

Delta is more contageous than smallpox & cloth masks are no longer sufficient due to delta.

Lots of great info there.
I don't know why CDC said masks no longer needed if fully vaxed either.

Most breakthrough infections are mild or asymptomatic, with the person shedding virus to infect others. And these mild cases can result in long-haul.

Be safe!

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100215572903

[mnhtnbb]

21. Yesterday I had a pedicure for the first time since February 2020.

The salon I went to--like many--is owned by Vietnamese who have been here a very long time. The nail techs were all masked and the clients were all masked. They had a sign on the door requesting everyone to wear a mask.

This is Durham, NC, which is one of the most blue counties in the state.

[LisaL]

35. Around here, a lot of businesses such as salons and so on stopped requiring masks.

So everybody inside is maskless, including workers.

[secondwind]

22. YE

[Grokenstein]

23. Always err on the side of caution.

The CDC has been consistently leaning towards "letting it wash over us," so I'd trust them about as far as I could chuck Donald Rumsfeld's corpse. If one didn't ask what the hell they were thinking when they announced three feet was fine for kids (but not adults), I don't know what will wake one up.

[LisaL]

25. I don't know what CDC is thinking either.

UK's cases are going through the roof, and they are vaxxed similar to us.
But lets open everything up and stop wearing masks, just when delta is starting to spread here.

[Xavier Breath]

24. Both the wife and I are vaccinated

but we still continue to wear ours when going into public buildings. We wouldn't feel comfortable doing otherwise, especially since mask wearing has dropped to a fraction of what it was. About the only people wearing masks anymore are the workers in the individual establishments.

[Pobeka]

26. Masks reduce viral load.

I think this is a not widely understood concept. A mask will intercept some virus particles. N95's for example, theoretically intercept 95% of incoming particles so 5% make it through.

A cloth or surgical mask, while intercepting far fewer particles, still intercepts a significant %.

The amount of intake of viral particles will ultimately determine how fast your immune system can recognize the virus (either from previous immune memory like a vaccine or previous infection, or in the worst case starting from nothing).

So if you get a huge load of viral particles, they may make a lot of headway replicating inside your body before your immune system has time to recognize the virus and mount a defense, and you'll become symptomatic.

If you get a tiny load of viral particles, your body will have about the same amount of time to recognize the virus as the huge load case, but now your immune system has a chance to "get ahead" of a symptomatic response.

Viral load matters, regardless of whether it's original wild strain, Alpha, Beta or Delta variant. Each variant can infect you with a differing amount of total viral load, but the mask still plays an important role, vaccinated or not to reduce the chance you become symptomatic.

I suspect the WHO is worried about two things:

1) When everyone masks, many more unvaccinated people wear the mask, and
2) The possibility that vaccinated people, if getting a large viral load, may be capable of transmitting the virus to others. I have seen no science papers on this yet, but I bet they are looking hard at it right now.

[Caliman73]

29. When in doubt, always go with the most protective stance.

I think that the CDC lifted the mask mandate too early. Our numbers are good, but if you look back at history, pandemics do not just hit hard, then go away, they hit, then maybe hit again, harder, then they flutter out. The Flu Pandemic of 1918 hit in 3 waves over a 3 year period. The second wave was the hardest hitting.

My concern is this Delta variant that seems to be getting through our defenses. Masks work to limit the spread. The problem is that masks are such a political issue now that widespread mask wearing will not happen again, unless we start getting into the 100's of thousands of people getting sick and dying. A lot of people think that the pandemic is over and are operating as such.

Wearing masks in public is not only essential to stop harmful particles from being exhaled into the environment. That is what prevents people from inhaling those particles. MY MASK PROTECTS YOU, YOUR MASK PROTECTS ME.

[gratuitous]

30. It's not that onerous a precaution to take

I'll wear a mask at the office when I go back to in-person work next Monday. I could be asymptomatically infected and shedding virus and not be aware of it, since I'm fully vaccinated. However, others in the office may not be vaccinated (either by choice or due to circumstances beyond their control such as a compromised immune system and they don't want to risk the shot), and I'd be devastated if I passed the virus on to someone else without taking a simple countermeasure.

[Zeitghost]

33. It's not surprising...

It's not surprising that the CDC differs from WHO. The situation in the US with the widespread availability of the two MRNA vaccines differs from conditions in much of the world.

[LisaL]

34. Vaccine sitting on the shelf isn't really going to do anyone any good.

We have a lot of anti-vaxxers in the US.