Day 1 out in the world feels no different. I went to a physical therapy appointment this morning and everyone was masked as per usual. Wondering whether this guidance is going to affect local rules around here. Unfortunately, the CDC has gone all in on ruining their own credibility, so my guess is not much will change from the previously announced rules.
Note that we have a burn unit-grade HVAC system and our staff is fully vaccinated, but we also have two Brazilian employees who are not at all ready to deal with maskless clients at the moment.In case anyone is asking, Yes, Jay Inslee announced yesterday "fully vaccinated people no longer need to wear masks unless they're in crowded indoor settings like schools, buses, planes, hospitals, prisons and homeless shelters." He also said that business can continue to require masks if they choose. We will be continuing to require masks at this time and I wanted you all to hear the exact language that was announced. We also can say that we are a (relatively) crowded indoor setting with vulnerable populations and therefore we will continue to require masks.
100% the right call to let businesses decide and to also place some reasonable limits on what constitutes a crowded environment. I know people who are in high exposure occupations who have gotten covid even after the vaccine. That's the trouble with lack of herd immunity. 90% effective is 100% effective if everyone is vaccinated, but 90% is truly only 90% (read:10% ineffective) when you're still bathing in the cesspool. Funny to watch the anti-vax movement go from fringe to mainstream this last year. Must have been what it was like when Christianity took over the Empire.
Just sent this to all staffThere will come a time when the masks come off. I recommend everyone consider for themselves, individually, what milestones would make you personally comfortable with seeing an unmasked patient, and what would make you personally comfortable not wearing a mask yourself. We value everyone's health and safety, but we also value a return to normalcy and we need to be cognizant of the point where the mask ceases to be safety equipment and becomes a teddy bear. Is it case counts? Is it percentage vaccinated? We've had it easy so far because the enforceable bare minimum was adequate to our needs. The enforceable bare minimum is now "nothing" so whatever our "something" is we need to be able to justify it, and we need to be ready to let go of it when we can't anymore.
I actually laughed out loud at the teddy bear line, because it's exactly the type of thing that I would want someone to say to me and also exactly the type of thing I could see a bunch of oversensitive types (such as you might find among doctor's office staff) having a pissy fit about. It's perferct.