On Monday’s “PBS NewsHour,” White House Chief Medical Adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci said that fully vaccinated people might want to wear a mask in areas with low vaccination “For a number of reasons, to protect yourself, but particularly, for example, if you have, at home, in your own home, vulnerable people, like the elderly or people who have underlying conditions, you might want to make sure you take that extra step of protection.” And “That’s what’s going on in Los Angeles. They want to go the extra mile to show that you can protect yourself more, even if you are vaccinated.”
Fauci said, “If you look at the overall recommendations, Judy, from the CDC, they say, overall, if you are vaccinated, you don’t need to wear a mask outdoors or indoors. But there’s a big however with that, and the however is, you should also pay attention to what’s going on in the area where you are living. So, if you live in an area where you have a high dynamic of infection, and that’s usually in an area where there’s a low level of vaccination, if you happen to live in that area, you may want to go the extra mile and get the extra degree of protection of wearing a mask, even though you are vaccinated. For a number of reasons, to protect yourself, but particularly, for example, if you have, at home, in your own home, vulnerable people, like the elderly or people who have underlying conditions, you might want to make sure you take that extra step of protection. That’s what’s going on in Los Angeles. They want to go the extra mile to show that you can protect yourself more, even if you are vaccinated.”
He added, “I think people who are vaccinated and go into an area where there is infection, if they have unvaccinated people who are vulnerable at home or even people who might be vaccinated, but are immunosuppressed, where they may not have a very good response against the vaccine — or with the vaccine, you have to be careful. That’s the reason for the extra mile of care.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett