Friday, March 19, 2021

Opinion Today: You’re vaccinated. Can you hug your mom?

Three experts answer your questions.
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By Alexandra Sifferlin

Senior Staff Editor, Opinion

More than 20 percent of people in the United States have received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine. Getting vaccinated means the return of many cherished aspects of daily life, including the ability to spend time with family and friends. But navigating this new phase of the pandemic remains tricky while there are still large swathes of unvaccinated people.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently shared guidelines for fully vaccinated Americans. Once inoculated, you can gather indoors in small groups without needing to wear a mask. You can also gather indoors with unvaccinated people from one other household as long as none of them are high-risk for severe Covid-19. In public, you still need to wear masks until scientists know more about whether vaccinated people can spread the virus.

But these guidelines can't account for the intricacies of daily life. In any given household there might be vaccinated and unvaccinated people, for example. The reality is that there are many aspects of people's lives that make their own choices more or less risky. For that reason, we asked the airborne transmission expert Linsey Marr, the epidemiologist Caitlin Rivers and the virus expert Juliet Morrison to answer a few questions from readers about what they can and can't do once vaccinated.

They tackle questions like: Can I take my vaccinated mom to dinner? Can my grandkids sleep over? Can I travel on an airplane to visit my daughter?

There are not always easy, clear-cut answers. But hopefully this information can help you navigate the risks and nuances of post-vaccine life.

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