As the Delta variant continues to sweep the country, some health experts say that even those who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 should be encouraged to wear masks to prevent the spread of the virus.
“If you have not been vaccinated, wearing a mask is a good idea. Avoid crowds. Social distancing is very important,” said Dr. Nikhil Bhayani, an infectious disease physician consultant at Texas Health Resources. Weekly newspaper“But as we start to see more and more cases, I think we should encourage the wearing of masks, even in vaccinated people.”
Although the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC] Its guidelines have been updated, stating that vaccinated individuals no longer need to wear masks or maintain social distancing. As the number of cases and hospitalizations increases, major cities are considering restoring masks.
Although these discussions have not formally taken effect in most places, Los Angeles County became the first county to reintroduce the mask order on Sunday after community transmission has increased sevenfold since the county reopened on June 15.
The county now requires everyone to wear a mask indoors, regardless of their vaccination status.
According to the CDC, as of Thursday, more than 65% of Americans 12 years and older had at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine. However, the vaccination rate in some states such as Texas lags behind the national figure.
“Now in Texas, and of course the United States, more than 80% of new COVID cases are due to the Delta variant,” Bhayani said. “Yes, we have seen a slight increase in the number of hospitalizations. The only way to really prevent this from happening is to get vaccinated, because now, most of the people we see in the hospital are not vaccinated.”
According to the Texas Department of Health Services, 99.5% of COVID-related deaths in the state between February 8 and July 14 were unvaccinated people.
Tim Warner/Stringer
Bhayani said he believes that a lot of vaccine hesitation stems from false information on social media platforms.
“I think the reason why we see a lot of people who don’t want to get vaccinated is because 50% of people think,’Okay, this is the message I read Facebook Saying that vaccines can cause adverse events’ or’I heard that it is really not as protective as everyone thinks’, but this is not the case,” he said on Friday.
He continued, “Research shows that our mRNA vaccine is effective against Delta variants. Of course it may be 95%, but at least it has a certain degree of protection.”
President Joe Biden It was also criticized on social media platforms such as Facebook for failing to combat COVID-19 misinformation.
When asked about the vaccine misinformation on social networks, Biden said that Facebook was “killing.”
Biden told reporters last week: “I mean they really, look, our only epidemic is people who have not been vaccinated, and that is – they are killing people.”
Although both local doctors and the White House have made allegations, Facebook disputes whether the platform allows the spread of false information.
“We will not be distracted by allegations that are not supported by facts,” a Facebook spokesperson said in a statement. “The truth is that more than 2 billion people viewed authoritative information about COVID-19 and vaccines on Facebook, more than any other place on the Internet. More than 3.3 million Americans also use our vaccine finder tool to find locations and How to get a vaccine. The facts show that Facebook is helping to save lives. Period.”
