After the CDC rolled back its guidance that vaccinated people could unmask, many were left confused and unsure of what to believe. Abdul El-Sayed, Towsley Foundation Policymaker in Residence, explained the logistics behind the new guidance.
"What they found with delta though is that in their outbreak investigations, they found that vaccinated people were transmitting the virus. So, to protect vaccinated people and unvaccinated people, they made a recommendation in high transmission areas for folks to wear them," he said. "On the other hand, the question that the CDC has not reckoned with is the impact of their recommendations. The reality of it is that high transmission places are high transmission is because people are not paying attention to what the CDC says about either vaccines or makes and so making this recommendation, one has to ask whether or not this is going to be effective in the first place."
