If I am vaccinated, why am I wearing a mask? Serious question
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If I am vaccinated, why am I wearing a mask? Serious question
lol
Yes, you're vaccinated. But if 30 or 40% of the population isn't and the disease spreads, it will be able to mutate into forms you're not vaccinated against. In short, herd immunity wins for everyone.
Serious answer: because you can spread it to others just fine even if you're vaccinated. Vaccination doesn't cure you, it makes it so you're far less likely to die or have a serious case. You can still pass it on to others.
Not sure what you're saying, but for example, New Zealand, Vietnam, Taiwan, all just off the top of my head.
ZYanksRule
Registered
I don't necessarily disagree with that, other than if too many people aren't vaccinated, that increases the danger for everyone, especially if variants start to escape the vaccine. Which could definitely happen if there's virus circulating amongst a population that is partially vaccinated. The reason we need everyone to get the vaccine is that no one is truly safe until everyone is vaccinated and the virus has no one to infect.
I do, however, think that in this country we are going to widely open everything up with no restrictions once anyone who wants a vaccine can get one. Because we are a highly immature country that can't handle this situation with maturity and resolve.
Meanwhile other places that have very strict covid rules are somehow in another lockdown right now. (europe)
While I'm not particularly pleased with how the pandemic was handled at the very beginning of it, I also don't think that a country of our size could have avoided what happened anyway.
These answers were what Fauci gave to Rand Paul when he essentially asked the same question to Fauci, albeit in a more condescending and willfully ignorant way.
1) There isn't enough data to know your viral load as a vaccinated, infected person vs an unvaccinated, infected person. Based on other vaccines and viruses, it should be fairly small and reduce the chance or transmission by a lot, but we still don't know for sure yet. So, mask up to reduce the spread.
2) The vaccines available now are up to 8-10 times less effective against some of the variants that are currently spreading and continuing to spread in the country. Sure, if you are vaccinated, you still probably won't need hospitalization and you probably won't die, but your chance of spreading this variant to someone else who is unvaccinated may also be much greater.
edit: here's his response
These next couple are my thoughts.
3) Why care about the idiots who refuse to get vaccinated and/or wear masks? Personally, I don't. If I could infect them all and lock them up in a room, I would. But the fact is, these idiots continue to roam around spreading the virus. If we can reduce the chance of giving them the virus so they don't pass it on to someone else, all the better. Basically, do our best not to arm the idiots.
4) The goal of wearing the mask, whether vaccinated or not, is to snuff out the virus. Wearing the mask until a large enough portion of the population is immune from natural infection or vaccine helps us get to that goal.
5) Viruses mutate. If you are vaccinated and get infected, you may become patient zero for a new variant that has figured out a way to circumvent the vaccine protections. If this were to happen, we'd probably be looking at another year of masks.
So, in the end, it's another few months or masks or another year+?
EDIT 2:
Cuomo announced today that pharmacies will not be limited to 65+ anymore. So anyone who would qualify to get vaccinated at a state run site can now get one at a pharmacy.
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ZYanksRule
Registered
We would not have been able to avoid it, but it didn't have to be as bad as it was.
Correct - but Seth's original point was that we would be open by now and I don't think that would be the case, just looking at most of the world as a consideration. Sure, a few countries survived it well, but most didn't. That's all my ponderance is here
I think you’re wrong here.
25% of this country thinks we should be in full lockdown. 25% of this country thinks Hillary Clinton molested children in the basement of a pizza parlor.
When the middle 50% are vaccinated, they’re not going to put up with masks and no live school and quarantine periods. Go ahead and call me immature, but the death rate on this thing for people 60 and below is infantisimal. Rip the band aid
When the middle 50% are vaccinated, they’re not going to put up with masks and no live school and quarantine periods. Go ahead and call me immature, but the death rate on this thing for people 60 and below is infantisimal. Rip the band aid
ZYanksRule
Registered
Agreed about that. And on the other end, virtually no country on earth is doing as good a job as we are at vaccinations. We could come to a point where America becomes one of the safer countries to be in, and it's unsafe to travel outside the country for a few months. The European Union is a disaster at vaccinations.
And I'm just sitting here, under 60 with no medical conditions unable to get the shot, just waiting for the schedule to be released and figuring out where I can go for a PCR test within 72 hours (expensive!) to attend a match in person.
If you call the testing centers when they close close, if they still have leftover doses they might tell you to come immediately and you can get a shot impromptu just like that, even without being eligible. You might want to try doing that
I don't think you will need PCR. Check the Yankees website.
You are correct, the possibility exists that vaccinated folks can still spread it. But, studies do show that you are incredibly less likely to spread it once you are vaccinated.
Israeli studies find Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine reduces transmission
Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine greatly reduces virus transmission, two Israeli studies have found, shedding light on one of the biggest questions of the global effort to quash the pandemic.
www.reuters.com
I don't understand why more people aren't saying this. (Not directed at you, mostly at the general media types who love the doom and gloom and have been printing out stories for the last 3 months about the next big wave that's coming and hasn't come yet. Or print stories every time a state relaxes restrictions about how that governor loves to kill their citizens, but then don't seem to mention anything weeks later once those states COVID cases continue to decline.)
Three countries, 2 islands, all of whom shut down all international travel last March and have kept themselves isolated with minimal exceptions since then, and all using procedures developed because they were hit hard by SARS, MERS and Avian flu. There's not a single country in the world that does not share these features that did what they did. I agree we had idiots in charge, but the idea that we could have managed to do what a handful of Pacific rim countries did is fantasy.
LOL.
ETA: With that I'm out of this discussion.
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The notion that infected people can spread the virus in a significant manner is a theoretical one - and there are good reasons to believe it isn't true. So yes, some of this is caution, but I think there is a bigger, unspoken reason for the vaccinated to continue masking for now.
To me, the most important reason to wear masks after vaccination is to maintain the social norm that people should wear masks. If people see fewer and fewer people around them wearing masks, they will be less likely to do so themselves, even if they haven't yet been vaccinated. We aren't at a point yet when dispensing with masks for the unvaccinated is safe. So, doing your part by wearing a mask is not just about preventing yourself from spreading the virus - it's also about reinforcing the message that masks are important. In a way, this means that Rand Paul was correct that there is a bit of theater in having vaccinated people wear masks, but it's actually a very important piece of theater.
To me, the most important reason to wear masks after vaccination is to maintain the social norm that people should wear masks. If people see fewer and fewer people around them wearing masks, they will be less likely to do so themselves, even if they haven't yet been vaccinated. We aren't at a point yet when dispensing with masks for the unvaccinated is safe. So, doing your part by wearing a mask is not just about preventing yourself from spreading the virus - it's also about reinforcing the message that masks are important. In a way, this means that Rand Paul was correct that there is a bit of theater in having vaccinated people wear masks, but it's actually a very important piece of theater.
