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Mask Guidance for Fully Vaccinated Individuals

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Mask Guidance for Fully Vaccinated Individuals

May 24, 2021

The COVID-19 mitigation guidance and recommendations have evolved through the course of the pandemic over the past 18 months. Measures such as masking, physical distancing, hand hygiene/cleaning and disinfection remain important and effective tools for us in this pandemic response. Another critical mitigation tool is robust uptake of a safe and effective vaccine. When the majority of citizens are vaccinated, it offers protection for those who are vaccinated, the entire community and especially to those who cannot be vaccinated. The message is clear… we encourage everyone to get vaccinated against COVID-19

As a result of the protection offered by vaccination, individuals who are fully vaccinated can begin returning to normal activities. The basic message is that gathering with others without masks or distancing is supported by science for fully vaccinated persons in certain situations.

On Thursday May 13, the CDC released updated guidance announcing that fully vaccinated people can resume activities they did before the pandemic, including participating in indoor and outdoor activities – large or small – without wearing a mask or physically distancing. Fully vaccinated people can also refrain from testing following a known exposure unless they are residents or employees of a correctional or detention facility or a homeless shelter.

A person is considered fully vaccinated against COVID-19 if it has been two or more weeks since they got the second dose in a two-dose series (Pfizer or Moderna), or one dose of a single-dose vaccine (Johnson & Johnson).

Important Exceptions to Updated Mask Guidance:

Health care settings
K-12 Schools As of now, the CDC’s school guidance remains unchanged. Most students will still be unvaccinated and schools should follow CDC’s guidance for schools. Teachers, school administrators, and staff should continue to follow CDC’s school guidance until more people and children are vaccinated. Students and staff on buses should continue to follow all masking and physical distancing guidelines.
Places where masks are required by local, tribal, or territorial laws, rules, and regulations, including: local businesses and workplaces
Residents and employees of correctional and detention facilities and homeless shelters
Travelers on all planes, buses, trains, and other forms of public transportation traveling into, within, or out of the United States and in U.S. transportation hubs such as airports and stations

Mask wearing, regardless of vaccination status, continues to be an important COVID-19 mitigation strategy in schools, correctional facilities, homeless shelters, and other settings where additional regulations exist. This includes wearing a mask when traveling into, within, or out of the United States.

These recommendations recognize science that shows when vaccinated people are together, the risk of disease transmission is very low. This updated guidance also reflects scientific consensus on the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines against circulating strains of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Studies show that COVID-19 vaccines are more than 90% effective in real-world settings in preventing mild and severe disease, hospitalization, and death.

Additional Mitigation Measures: Physical Distancing; Hand Hygiene, Cover Your Cough, Stay Home When Ill, and Cleaning and Disinfection Best Practice.

The benefit of physical distancing, hand hygiene, cough etiquette, staying home if ill and cleaning and disinfection are best practice regardless of vaccination status continues to be important in reducing disease transmission and keeping people healthy. The Iowa County Health Department encourages every citizen continue the maintenance of these practices. It is important to be aware and considerate of persons in our communities who cannot be vaccinated due to current ineligibility because of age or medical reason, or who may have a medical condition or an immune system that may not have mounted as strong of an immune response from the vaccine.

We encourage and support businesses and organizations who maintain mitigation measures and reinforce messaging that supports use of these safeguards. For example, electing to limit attendance or occupancy to promote physical distancing.

It is up to businesses to determine how to use this information in their operations being sure to research and understand the legal considerations and liability.

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/daily-life-coping/participate-in-activities.html#print

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/fully-vaccinated.html

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Local Disease Incidence Data:

The most recent dashboard update (5.21.21) continues to see metrics remain steady including the percentage of positive cases, at 3.5%; and the average cases reported daily metric, steady at 1.8. A summary of this week’s metrics, can be found at https://www.iowacounty.org/departments/COVID-19

The incidence of disease locally continues as a critical means in understanding the risk of COVID-19 in Iowa County. The status of Iowa County COVID-19 dashboard metrics and Iowa County School Capacity Indicators will continue to be tracked and monitored.

Key data:

Percent positive tests
Local health and response system capacity
Community spread
Management of outbreaks
COVID-19 Vaccination Rates

All of the above metrics have been stable for several weeks. In addition, trends in hospitalization data locally, regionally and statewide have been stable.

See pages three through four of this document for Key Metrics from the Iowa County COVID-19 Data Dashboard since September, 2020.

Vaccination Progress Continues Iowa County

As of May 21, 2021, 54% (12,779) of Iowa County residents have received one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and 46.1% (10,905) residents have completed the vaccine series. In addition, 89.7% age 65+ have received at least one dose of vaccine, and 86.7% are fully vaccinated. View the interactive DHS data dashboard at COVID-19 Vaccine Data See the graph visualizing Iowa County’s progress.

Key metrics from the Iowa County COVID-19 Data Dashboard since September, 2020.

*Date dashboard was updated*	*Percent of tests that are positive*	*Average number of cases reported per day*	*Average number of tests per day*	*Outbreaks metric*	*Percentage of cases contracted by community spread*	*School Capacity metric: new case rate per 10,000*
September 8	2.0%	0.93	45.4	Red	38%	5
September 14	1.3%	0.64	49.7	Red	40%	4
September 21	2.6%	1.79	70	Red	64%	11
September 28	3.5%	3.79	107.5	Red	60%	22
October 5	4.8%	5.57	116.5	Red	51%	33
October 12	6.8%	8.21	121	Red	43%	49
October 19	7.5%	11.58	153.8	Red	41%	59
October 23*	7.9%	11.35	142.9	Red	43%	67
October 30	8.4%	11.29	133.7	Red	42%	67
November 6	11.4%	16.86	148.3	Red	42%	99
November 13	14.5%	26.36	181.8	Red	41%	155
November 20	14.7%	30.14	205.7	Red	43%	178
November 27	12.5%	26.86	215.1	Red	44%	158
December 4	9.8%	16.64	169.4	Red	43%	98
December 11	8.1%	11.9	147	Red	46%	70
December 18	9.6%	14.43	150	Red	46%	85
December 28	9.3%	14.64	156.8	Red	40%	86
January 4	8.6%	11.14	129.8	Red	44%	66
January 8	8.5%	7.5	89	Red	53%	44
January 15	5.6%	5.5	97	Red	49%	32
January 22	3.8%	4.2	112	Red	36%	25
January 29	3.3%	3.4	102	Red	31%	20
February 5	2.1%	2.3	111	Red	30%	13.5
February 12	2.8%	2.9	104	Green	34%	16.8
February 19	2.8%	2.6	96	Green	44%	15.6
February 26	2%	1.7	85	Green	57%	10.1
March 5	2.4%	2.1	87	Green	77%	12.2
March 12	3.8%	3.4	90	Green	57%	20.2
March 19	5.9%	4.7	80	Green	39%	27.8
March 26	4.2%	3.4	79	Yellow	39%	19.8
April 2	2.1%	1.6	79	Yellow	39%	10
April 9	2.1%	1.6	77	Yellow	43%	10
April 16	2.6%	1.9	70	Green	48%	11
April 23	3%	2.1	72	Green	52%	12.6
April 30	3%	2.1	69	Green	41%	12.2
May 7	2.8%	1.7	62	Green	42%	10.1
May 14	3.2%	1.8	56	Green	52%	10.5
May 21	3.5%	1.8	52	Green	46%	10.5