For Immediate Release From The Wall Street Journal!
People who are fully vaccinated against the Covid-19 virus don’t need to wear masks when walking, hiking, biking, running alone or gathering in small groups outside, federal health officials said, taking a major step to ease pandemic restrictions while encouraging more people to get shots.
The same applies to dining at a restaurant outside, and to small outdoor gatherings that include some unvaccinated people, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday.
Yet vaccinated people should still wear masks in public settings indoors and outdoors where there is a substantial risk of Covid-19 transmission, such as concerts, sporting events and other crowded gatherings, the CDC said.
The fully vaccinated should also wear masks at indoor gatherings with unvaccinated people, visits to a barber, hair salon, shopping mall, museum, movie theater or crowded house of worship. Vaccinated people should also wear masks if singing in an indoor chorus, the CDC said.
The new guidelines are the latest easing restrictions for vaccinated people. They follow mounting scientific evidence indicating the risk of infection is low outdoors, especially among people who are vaccinated. The risk of Covid-19 transmission by vaccinated people is low, evidence shows.
Federal health officials said they hope the revisions will help persuade millions of people who are reluctant or otherwise haven't been inoculated to get the shot amid a recent decline in demand.
“The message is clear: ‘You’re vaccinated, guess what? You get to return to a more normal lifestyle. If you’re not vaccinated, you’re still in danger,” Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said Tuesday in an interview with CBS This Morning.
Paul Sax, clinical director of the infectious diseases division at Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston, applauded the changes because they were based on the science of Covid-19 transmission. “It will motivate people to get vaccinated,” he said. “They’re using a carrot rather than a stick.”
The CDC, the federal government’s public-health agency, sets the voluntary guidelines to steer local leaders. The agency has been setting and reworking guidelines throughout the pandemic, as its dynamics have changed and researchers developed better understanding of the virus.
Many public-health authorities have for months encouraged masking as a key tool for reducing the risk of infection and transmission, though it has emerged as a political issue in some states.
The CDC didn’t previously recommend masks be worn outdoors for all activities. The agency had said on its website that “masks may not be necessary when you are outside by yourself away from others, or with people who live in your household.” Some places, however, require people to wear masks when out in public.
Existing CDC guidance said that fully vaccinated people could gather privately in small groups without masks or physical distancing, and travel without putting themselves at serious risk or needing to quarantine as long as they wear masks and take other precautions.
With the new guidelines, federal officials are trying to help vaccinated people resume some aspects of a normal life while preventing further transmission of Covid-19.
Vaccination appears to help slow spread of the virus, health experts said. To relax pandemic restrictions, health authorities have been racing to inoculate more people as a more transmissible variant has taken hold in parts of the U.S.
More than a year of research and outbreak investigations have shown that the risk of catching the virus drops considerably outdoors. The research indicates the risk is higher indoors, where the tiny air particles carrying the virus are more likely to linger and circulate, especially in crowded places with poor ventilation.
“The data are overwhelming that the real risk is indoors,” said John Brooks, chief medical officer for the CDC’s Covid-19 response.
Transmission outdoors isn’t impossible, according to researchers, especially in more crowded conditions or where people may be breathing heavily while in proximity to others.
In a systematic review of outdoor transmission published in November in the Journal of Infectious Diseases, researchers concluded that five Covid-19 studies found that less than 10% of reported transmission reported in outdoor settings. The studies also showed that the odds of super-spreading are much lower outdoors.
“We have unlimited dilution and unlimited ventilation” outdoors, said Joseph Allen, director of the Healthy Buildings Program and an associate professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. “We know that the biggest single risk factor for this virus is time indoors.”
Mr. Biden is expected to address the new guidelines in a speech from the White House Tuesday.
Upon taking office in January, Mr. Biden had asked the American public to wear a mask for the first 100 days of his presidency. He also signed an executive order requiring that masks be worn on federal property and in airports and certain public transportation.
Mr. Biden’s administration has focused in recent months on accelerating the pace of vaccinations, declaring a ‘wartime’ effort against a pandemic that has claimed more than 572,000 lives and infected more than 32 million in the United States.
The administration has set up federally supported mass vaccination sites across the country, expanded a federal partnership with retail pharmacies and moved up a deadline to make the vaccine available to all eligible Americans by April 15.
The average number of doses administered each day rose steadily and peaked at 3.38 million this month, but it has dropped more recently amid waning demand. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than half of Americans have received at least a first dose of the vaccine.
Still, Mr. Biden has urged Americans to remain vigilant amid concerns over variants rapidly spreading across the country. The president has called on people to wear a mask in public and voiced disapproval of states that have relaxed mask mandates.
Write to Betsy McKay at betsy.mckay+1@wsj.com and Sabrina Siddiqui at Sabrina.Siddiqui@wsj.com
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For Immediate Release From CMS!
SPECIAL ENROLLMENT PERIOD FOR AFFORDABLE HEALTHCARE ENDS AUGUST 15, 2021! #GETCOVERED NOW.
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) national emergency has presented unprecedented challenges for the American public. Millions of Americans are facing uncertainty and millions of Americans are experiencing new health problems during the pandemic. Due to the exceptional circumstances and rapidly changing Public Health Emergency (PHE) impacting millions of people throughout the US every day, many Americans remain uninsured or underinsured and still need affordable health coverage.
In accordance with the Executive Order issued today by President Biden, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) determined that the COVID-19 emergency presents exceptional circumstances for consumers in accessing health insurance and will provide a Special Enrollment Period (SEP) for individuals and families to apply and enroll in the coverage they need. This SEP will be available to consumers in the 36 states served by Marketplaces that use the HealthCare.gov platform, and CMS will conduct outreach activities to encourage those who are eligible to enroll in health coverage. CMS strongly encourages states operating their own Marketplace platforms to make a similar enrollment opportunity available to consumers in their states.
Starting on February 15, 2021 and continuing through May 15, 2021, Marketplaces using the HealthCare.gov platform will operationalize functionality to make a SEP available to all Marketplace-eligible consumers who are submitting a new application or updating an existing application. These consumers will newly be able to access the SEP through a variety of channels: through HealthCare.gov directly, the Marketplace call center, or direct enrollment channels. Additionally, consumers can work with a network of over 50,000 agents and brokers who are registered with the Marketplace, along with over 8,000 trained assisters, ready to assist consumers with their application for coverage.
To promote the SEP and ensure that a broad and diverse range of consumers are aware of this implementation, CMS will conduct an outreach campaign in cooperation with community and stakeholder organizations, focused on education and awareness of this new opportunity to enroll in English, Spanish and other languages. CMS outreach efforts will use a mix of paid advertising and direct outreach to consumers. Outreach efforts will include considerable awareness building efforts to encourage the uninsured and those who come to HealthCare.gov to explore coverage to continue the process and enroll. CMS plans to spend $50 million on outreach and education, on a mix of tactics to increase awareness, including advertisements on broadcast, digital, and an earned media.
Some consumers may already be eligible for other existing SEPs, Medicaid, or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) – they can visit HealthCare.gov now to find out if they can enroll even before this new SEP. Starting February 15, consumers seeking to take advantage of this SEP can find out if they are eligible by visiting HealthCare.gov, and are no longer limited to calling the Marketplace call center to access this SEP. Consumers who are eligible and enroll under this SEP will be able to select a plan with coverage that starts prospectively the first of the month after plan selection. Consumers will have 30 days after they submit their application to choose a plan. Current enrollees will be able to change to any available plan in their area without restriction to the same level of coverage as their current plan. In order to use this SEP, current enrollees will need to step through their application and make any changes if needed to their current information and submit their application in order to receive an updated eligibility result that provides the SEP before continuing on to enrollment. This SEP opportunity will not involve any new application questions, or require consumers or enrollment partners to provide any new information not otherwise required to determine eligibility and enroll in coverage. In addition, consumers won’t need to provide any documentation of a qualifying event (e.g., loss of a job or birth of a child), which is typically required for SEP eligibility.
As always, consumers found eligible for Medicaid or CHIP will be transferred to their state Medicaid and CHIP agencies for enrollment in those programs.
Read the full article HERE!@:
https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/fact-sheets/2... To read the executive order, visit:
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/p... To read the HHS press release, visit:
https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2021/01/28/... For more information about the Health Insurance Marketplace®[1], visit:
https://www.healthcare.gov/quick-guide/get... 2021 Special Enrollment Period in response to the COVID-19 Emergency
Posted By: agnes levine
Tuesday, April 27th 2021 at 1:49PM
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