CDC says you can ditch your mask. What does that mean for South Floridians?
So the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued new recommendations that people who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 “can participate in indoor and outdoor activities, large or small, without wearing a mask or physical distancing.”
That’s what CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said Thursday, citing the effectiveness of the vaccines used against the novel coronavirus that causes the disease and improvements in daily numbers of cases, deaths and hospitalizations.
President Joe Biden responded in kind at a White House briefing. Hours after Biden’s administration said that fully vaccinated people are largely — but not totally — free to go maskless, Miami-Dade’s mayor declared an end to mandatory masks at county buildguidelines ings.
“We have nearly weathered this once-in-a century crisis . ... This is truly the day we have been waiting for,” Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said in a video message Thursday night. “And I feel more confident than ever that we are reaching the light at the end of a very dark tunnel.”
So, to all those who waited in lines, worked your computers to get an appointment the way Stevie Wonder works a keyboard and took the single dose Johnson & Johnson or the two-dose Pfizer or Moderna and waited two weeks afterward to be considered fully vaccinated: Toss that mask in the trash and wave your hands in the air like you just don’t care.
Right?
Not so fast.
You’ve got questions. We’ve got some answers.
WEAR A MASK WHEN TRAVELING?
Yes. The new CDC say that masks are still required when traveling in any public conveyance. This means keep the mask on regardless of vaccination status while traveling on planes, buses and trains.
METRORAIL AND METROMOVER?
Yes. Those are public transportation systems. Mayor Levine Cava did not tell you to ditch the masks there.
MIAMI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT OR FORT LAUDERDALEHOLLYWOOD INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT?
You’re flying. You’re masking. Same thing inside the airports, the concourses and airport stores and eateries. Those are public transportation places.
A Transportation Security Administration’s federal mask mandate remains in effect through September for planes, trains and buses,
USA Today reports.
NURSING HOMES?
Yes. She still can’t see your beautiful face just yet. The CDC still recommends the wearing of masks inside healthcare settings.
HOSPITALS? YOUR DOCTOR’S OFFICE?
Yes. Healthcare setting.
VISITING A SOUTH FLORIDA CORRECTIONAL FACILITY?
Mask on. The CDC kept the recommendation in place for all correctional facilities.
GOING TO THE LIBRARY. TO MASK OR NOT?
In Levine Cava’s message Thursday, she said that masks will no longer be required at county buildings. A library is part of the county system. That said, she’s “still recommending people wear a mask and social distance at MiamiDade County facilities.”
WHAT ABOUT SCHOOLS?
Thursday’s about-face is giving South Florida school leaders a new assignment.
At a news conference alongside Levine Cava, Miami-Dade County Public Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said he, too, will talk with the mayor’s medical advisor, Dr. Peter Paige, as well as with the school’s Public Health and Medical Experts Task Force. That body is made up of medical experts at institutions including Florida International University and University of Miami, he told WSVN, adding that schools could see changes as early as the summer session.
“The protocols may be different, but we find it important to first consult with our medical experts,” he said at the briefing. “We hope to have a decision regarding the use of masks in our facilities very soon.”
STORES?
This is where it gets confusing. The Miami-Dade mayor alluded to the confusion when she urged caution.
“In consultation with our Chief Medical Officer Dr. Peter Paige and our panel of medical experts I am no long mandating but still recommending that you wear a mask and social distance at Miami-Dade facilities,” she said. “About 50% of our 16-plus have been vaccinated but since we don’t know who has or who hasn’t been vaccinated we urge that you practice common sense and continue following masking and other precautions if you are not vaccinated.”
BUT SOME PRIVATE BUSINESSES MAY HAVE RELAXED THE RULES. CAN THEY?
“To private businesses, continue to make your own decisions on how best to keep your workers and your customers safe,” Levine Cava said Thursday.
The Broward Center for the Performing Arts, for example, has started offering live entertainment again on its stages, albeit with modifications. “For shows taking place currently at our theaters, seating capacity is approximately 30% of normal capacity to allow for physical distancing,” said Kelley Shanley, Broward Center’s president and CEO. “Facial coverings are required unless patrons are consuming food or beverages in a designated seating area.”
So some places are. Others not. We feel your frustration as the pathway to (a new) normalcy evolves.
“We’re creating a situation where private companies or individuals are responsible for their business and finding out if people are vaccinated — if they’re even going to be enforcing that,” Rachael Piltch-Loeb, associate research scientist at New
York University School of Global Public Health, told USA Today.