So What Does The New CDC Guidance Really Say?
BIG news yesterday! No, I’m not talking about Oprah’s Sunday tell-all interview.
(But did you see that??)
Rather, yesterday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a clear and succinct guidance document yesterday about what fully vaccinated folks can do now and what remains the same despite the growing disbursement of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Without further ado, here are the CDC’s new recommendations, which apply to non-healthcare settings, courtesy of my employment law partner and friend Eric Meyer and his fantastic blog, The Employer Handbook.
Fully vaccinated people can:
- Visit with other fully vaccinated people indoors without wearing masks or physical distancing.
- Visit with unvaccinated people from a single household at low risk for severe COVID-19 disease indoors without wearing masks or physical distancing.
- Refrain from quarantine and testing following a known exposure if asymptomatic
For now, fully vaccinated people should continue to:
- Take precautions in public, like wearing a well-fitted mask and physical distancing.
- Wear masks, practice physical distancing, and adhere to other prevention measures when visiting with unvaccinated people who are at increased risk for severe COVID-19 disease or who have an unvaccinated household member who is at increased risk for severe COVID-19 disease
- Wear masks, maintain physical distance, and practice other prevention measures when visiting with unvaccinated people from multiple households
- Avoid medium- and large-sized in-person gatherings.
- Get tested if experiencing COVID-19 symptoms.
- Follow guidance issued by individual employers.
- Follow CDC and health department travel requirements and recommendations.
For this guidance, people are fully vaccinated for COVID-19 ≥2 weeks after they have received the second dose in a 2-dose series (Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna) or ≥ 2 weeks after they have received a single-dose vaccine (Johnson and Johnson [J&J]/Janssen).
Of course, the CDC guidance is subject to state and local rules, orders, laws, etc. The FisherBroyles Employment Group is ready to help clients navigate these issues with employee handbook updates, return-to-work plans, and other day-to-day counseling.
