Dr. Paul Offit:
I think it’s clearer.
I think, previously, when the administration said that if you’re vaccinated, you don’t need to wear a mask indoors, that assumed that every — one, everybody heard that, and that, two, everybody would follow that.
I’m sure when I walk into the ACME around the corner here, that — and there’s 50 people there. Many are not wearing masks. I’m sure many of those people who aren’t wearing masks also aren’t vaccinated.
But I think now the Delta variant really has changed things. It is — if you look at the virus that was circulating last summer, the D614G variant, this virus, you shed 1,000 times more virus from your nose and throat if you’re infected with the Delta variant than that previous virus.
That really has changed the game here. So, I think, if you are indoors, around a lot of people, it’s just prudent to wear a mask even if you’re vaccinated, because, even if you’re vaccinated, you still could have an asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic infection, in which case you could be contagious.
But be assured that if you’re vaccinated, it’s extremely unlikely that you would suffer severe or critical disease. So, it works. So get vaccinated, so you don’t have to be hospitalized or die from this virus.
It’s amazing that we have to make this case. I mean, is it not clear enough that the percentage of people who are hospitalized or killed by this virus are all unvaccinated?