COVID-19 Update

World

New Cases:    487,487 (⬆︎ .38%)
New Deaths:       6,921 (⬆︎ .25%)

USA

New Cases:    44,096 (⬆︎ .14%)
New Deaths:        510 (⬆︎ .09%)

Vaccination Scorecard

Total Vaccinations:          93.6 million (⬆︎ 2.07%)
Total Eligible Population: 35.0%
Total Population:              28.9%

Can I get out now, and do my usual shit again?

WaPo: (pay wall)

What can I do after I get vaccinated?

The CDC advises fully vaccinated people that they can gather indoors with other fully vaccinated people without wearing masks or social distancing. The agency also says fully vaccinated people can gather indoors with unvaccinated people from a single household without wearing masks or social distancing — if the unvaccinated are healthy and at low risk of contracting severe covid-19 disease. That would free older people to see nearby children and grandchildren. But long-distance travel is still discouraged.

Visits to unvaccinated people at higher risk, such as older people or those with underlying health conditions, still should be conducted outdoors, or in a well-ventilated space, and with masks on, the CDC says.

The CDC considers fully vaccinated to mean two weeks after a final shot of vaccine.

Fully vaccinated people also do not need to quarantine or be tested if they are exposed to the virus as long as they do not develop symptoms. Fully vaccinated employees of high-density workplaces such as meatpacking plants without symptoms also do not need to quarantine after an exposure. But a test is recommended to be certain.

Public health experts say in the short term, life will look much the same after you get vaccinated, until a larger share of the population is vaccinated and the pandemic is curbed. For the most part, they recommend that people still wear masks and maintain their distance around most people.

One reason for caution is that the vaccines in use are 95 percent — but not 100 percent — effective at preventing covid-19 from the original strain of the coronavirus they were tested against, but may confer less protection against newer variants first identified in South Africa and Brazil that are now circulating in the United States. So there is a small possibility that people who are vaccinated could get sick, though it is very unlikely they would be hospitalized or die.

Scientists haven’t ruled out the possibility that people who have been inoculated can transmit the virus to the unvaccinated. They are hoping to have data on that issue in the next few months and, if it shows that vaccinated people cannot be carriers, that could lead to more relaxed interactions.