Is the coronavirus pandemic end in sight? Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said she can see the end in sight.
CDC director responds to guideline changes
Walensky said on the “Today” show that she sees the endpoint of the pandemic insight.
- “I am cautiously optimistic that we are seeing this great, great end point in sight,” she said.
Her comments came after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that people can ditch their face masks in most indoor and outdoor settings, as I explained for the Deseret News.
Walensky said the changes mean that the country “really should all be back to school full time five days a week.”
- “Parents and perhaps even teachers may want to continue wearing masks to model behavior” for children in schools, she said.
Of course, Walensky understands the entire country isn’t going to be the same when it comes to masking.
- “We really do need to understand that this country is not uniform,” she said.
- She said the CDC needs “to look at our travel guidance, our school guidance, our childcare guidance, our camp guidance.”
Should we talk about the end of the pandemic?
Per The Washington Post, it might be time to start talking about the endgame of the pandemic.
“The end of the pandemic may not be near, exactly, but it’s no longer rash, impolitic or scientifically dubious to broach the topic,” according to The Washington Post.
Trends show COVID-19 cases on the decline. More than half of all U.S. adults have had at least one shot of the COVID-19 vaccine. The CDC seems to support opening up and ditching the masks. The positive signs are there.
- “When your country asked you to get vaccinated, you did. The American people stepped up. You did what I consider to be your patriotic duty,” Biden said Thursday, according to The Washington Post. “That’s how we got to this day.”
Of course, there are caveats to all of this. Vaccinations will need to keep happening to get close to the end of the pandemic. Mutations could end up hurting vaccinated people, too, if they become more transmissible. And you have to consider the rest of the world.
- “The U.S. population is not fully safe from the coronavirus (or any other virus) until the whole planet is safe. The global picture is alarming,” according to The Washington Post.