April 28 – The Centers for Disease Control announced yesterday new guidelines for vaccinated people and wearing masks.
The new recommendations say fully vaccinated people don’t have to wear masks if they:
- Walk, run, hike or bike alone or with members of their household.
- Attend small outdoor gatherings with fully vaccinated family and friends.
- Attend small outdoor gatherings with a mixture of fully vaccinated and unvaccinated people.
- Dine at outdoor restaurants with friends from multiple households.
Additionally, fully vaccinated people should wear a mask when attending a crowded, outdoor event.
Here’s the full chart:
Congressman John Joyce, who is a medical doctor, discussed the issue today with Pat Ryan and Michele Jansen on First News.
“The CDC is kind of catching up with reality,” Joyce said. “We know that it is safe to be outside. There’s no need for a mask outside. There’s such an incredibly small chance of getting COVID when you’re out in the open air that it’s really just the tail catching up with the head at this point in time. The recommendation from the CDC is what we knew all along. If you’re going into a medical office and you’re going to have multiple exposures, protect yourself. Protect those around you. Wear a mask. But when you’re with family and friends, if you’re immunized, you don’t need a mask at all. If you’re outside, you don’t need a mask.”
It’s time to get back to what we know.
“We’ve been safe,” Joyce said. “We’ve protected ourselves. We’ve followed the rules. Let’s get back to reopening Pennsylvania. Let’s get back to the normal life that we have.”
More than 50% of Americans have already received the vaccine.
“And this is because of President Trump,” Joyce said. “What President Trump did with Operation Warp Speed is unprecedented. President Trump allowed us to have a safe and effective vaccine for all who want that vaccine.”
It’s important to remember the vaccine is there for those who want it.
“We still have freedoms in America,” Joyce pointed out. “If you feel after talking to your doctor, your community pharmacist, and you’re a candidate for this, I encourage you to get that vaccine. I feel that every American who wants a vaccine should be able to get one, but that choice solely remains with the individual.”
There was a story of a teenage girl running in a race who passed out at the finish line because officials insisted contestants wear masks as they raced. Additionally, in the state of Michigan, two year olds are required to wear masks.
Add to that the possible requirement for students returning to college in the fall to have a vaccine and the waters are still a bit murky.
“I think that we still have that opportunity in America to have the freedom and vaccines are effective,” Joyce said. “I’m alarmed about people talking about vaccine passports, which would be dangerous and they’re an infringement on our basic rights. This isn’t the time to be doing that.”
Joyce recently introduced the Protecting Americans’ Safety and Security Privacy Over Repressive Tyranny Act, which is the PASSPORT Act.
“It defends your right and your medical freedom and it prohibits any tax payer support to further restrict our liberties,” Joyce explained. “We’re in the throes of a pandemic, but our freedoms are still constitutionally guaranteed. As a nation and as your congressman I will continue to fight to safeguard your individual rights and stop further government overreach into health, into privacy and into the education. I will always, hear me say this clearly, I will always reject the federal vaccine mandate. I will always reject a vaccine passport.”
