This is a big change from the dire predictions that Americans have been hearing over the past several months. Yes, the CDC is quick to point out, there are still important safety precautions needed in the case of large groups and with unvaccinated people who are in the high-risk groups, but basically if you and a friend or family members are both vaccinated, you can finally have dinner together.
And it means that vaccinated grandparents may finally feel comfortable visiting their unvaccinated grandchildren and giving them a big hug.
The CDC defines people who are fully vaccinated as those who are two weeks past their second dose of the Moderna and Pfizer Covid-19 vaccines or two weeks past a single dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
There is growing evidence that people who are vaccinated don't spread Covid-19. The guidelines state that people who have been fully vaccinated can visit other vaccinated people indoors without masks or physical distancing, and can even visit indoors with unvaccinated people from a single household without masks or physical distancing, if the unvaccinated people are at low risk for severe disease.
What makes this news significant is that it comes from the CDC, not exactly a far-right conservative organization. In a sane world these new guidelines would be a major game changer, a huge breakthrough to the lockdown nonsense that the country has been put through for over a year. But not so fast.
Don't expect the general public to throw away their masks and begin living like normal human beings again.
Thanks to the hysteria and leftist spin broadcast daily from TV, radio, newspapers, social media sites and just about everywhere throughout our culture ever since this thing started, people have been frightened to death, some people literally scared out of their minds.
These people won't bounce back so quickly I assure you. I've seen it in my own family over the course of the past year. I have relatives who have not spoken to me without standing several feet away and wearing a mask. They wouldn't come into my house, let alone touch me or my wife, treating us like lepers.
Even though many esteemed scientists and highly regarded infectious disease experts have stated time and time again that the lockdown was never really necessary and in fact has caused more damage to people's health than the virus itself, their voices were drowned out by the panic propaganda from Democrats (and their media cohorts) looking to win a presidential election.
The absurd and contradictory "mandates" put into place by power hungry Democratic governors and mayors never made common sense, let alone health sense.
As radio host and columnist Dennis Prager opined a few months ago, "Why can people eat with no mask in an airplane --- inches, not six feet, from strangers Ñ but cannot eat in a California restaurant, which is so much bigger than the inside of an airplane, while sitting six feet from others? Because Newsom ordered it, the Los Angeles Times supports it and, like sheep, Californians have accepted it."Ê
Most people look to their leaders for wisdom and guidance. Most people are accustomed to following orders. They want to "do the right thing," as the saying goes. And because of that, most people have lost their own ability to think clearly and logically. They no longer have confidence in their own common sense and judgement, looking instead to "big brother" to get them through whatever comes along.
Millions of Americans have been conditioned to doing whatever their elected officials have ordered them to do. They were told that this virus will kill them if they mingle with others. They believed it completely and did what they were told. "Wear a mask!" "Stay 6 feet apart!" "Wash all groceries and grocery bags before bringing them into your home!" "Do not gather with your family!" "Wear two masks!" "No visiting with dying relatives at the hospital!" "Keep children out of school!" "Wear two masks and a plastic guard on your face!"
People have been successfully scared for so long it will take more than an announcement from the CDC stating that, "All is clear, you can come out now!" to change their attitudes and daily living habits. Like the dog who grows up living in a small cage and feels uncomfortable leaving the security of his confinement, scared people will not abandon what they have been told is the "new normal" way of life.
The security of their isolationism, their masks, and their hand sanitizers will not be easily given up.