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Update, March 9: On March 8, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that people who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 can safely gather with small groups of unvaccinated people from other households without wearing masks or physically distancing but should still wear their masks in public. (You can read the full guidelines here.) An individual is considered fully vaccinated two weeks after their final dose.
It’s uncertain just when St. Louis and the rest of the country will reach herd immunity after enough of the population is vaccinated against COVID-19. But as more and more St. Louisans receive their doses, there is cautious optimism among experts as to when the public can return to feeling a semblance of normal.
This past week, Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, told CNN’s Chris Cuomo that while the risk is not zero, for small groups of people who have all been doubly vaccinated, there is a low COVID-19 risk in gathering together at home. Activities beyond that, he said, would depend on data and “good clinical common sense.”
People understandably want a definite answer as to what they should or should not do, whether it’s hugging a friend or family member you haven’t seen in person in months, going out to eat, or hosting a dinner party. But, as experts are cautioning, until we reach herd immunity everyone should still be wearing masks.
“There is not a yes or no answer about when people can feel comfortable safely going to a movie, or to a bar, or to a restaurant for indoor dining. The CDC will soon make recommendations for people who have been vaccinated,” says Dr. Steven Lawrence, a Washington University infectious diseases physician at Barnes-Jewish Hospital. Such decisions, he says, involve the risks people, even if they are all vaccinated, are willing to take. Lawrence is referring to the fact that while all the COVID-19 vaccines offer proven protection, such protection, as with any shot and disease, is not 100 percent. While the vaccine protects against symptomatic COVID-19, it’s still possible a vaccinated person could be infected and pass it on to someone else.
President Biden recently announced on Twitter that he plans to have enough vaccines for every adult American by the end of May. A December Pew Research Center poll noted that, as more vaccinations received U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval, the percentage of Americans intending to get a COVID-19 vaccine rose to 60 percent. But there are still plenty of residents who might not plan to get vaccinated. If such divisions exist in families or social circles, people who are vaccinated and those who aren’t should meet outside, wear masks, and socially distance.
“The good news is that warmer weather is coming,” says Enbal Shacham, a professor of behavioral science and health education at Saint Louis University. “Right now, we need to concentrate on getting the vaccine in as many arms as possible. I am optimistic that as time goes by and more people see increasing numbers of people safely being vaccinated, more people will want to receive the vaccine.”
According to data reported by The New York Times, 15 percent of Missouri’s population have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, with just 7.7 percent having received their second. According to the same data, 16 percent of Americans have received their first dose and 8.4 percent have gotten their second. Herd immunity, when a sufficient number of people in a community have become immune to a disease, can feel like a long way away—especially as new variants of COVID-19 are emerging.
“Rather than thinking of going back to normal,” Lawrence says, “we may want to think of living a new normal.”
