John Grifonetti on the Continued Need for Facemasks Post-Pandemic

Even though the coronavirus pandemic is beginning to ease thanks to the current vaccine rollout, doctors and public health professionals believe that mask-wearing will be necessary for quite some time to come. Not everyone in the population will be vaccinated thanks to health conditions and vaccine hesitancy, and the vaccine has not been approved for children under the age of 16. For these reasons, mask-wearing is projected to continue until the fall of 2021 or the winter of 2022.

John Grifonetti explains why mask-wearing is so essential and how it can continue to benefit public health even after most of the population has been vaccinated.

Fully Vaccinated People

The fully vaccinated are not obligated to wear masks if they are in indoor social situations with only people who are also fully vaccinated. This group of people have the most freedoms and provide a preview of what life will be like when the majority of the American population is fully vaccinated.

However, when people who have been fully vaccinated spend time with non-vaccinated people, whether indoors or outdoors, they should wear masks. It is not yet clear whether people who have been vaccinated can harbor the virus and pass it on to others. For safety’s sake, they should continue to wear masks around non-vaccinated people.

Children and Teens

While children and teens under 16 are not at serious risk from the pandemic, they can be effective spreaders of the virus. Children under 16 should keep wearing masks as long as the CDC recommends it. It is hoped that children will receive the vaccine in the coming fall or winter, but it will not be in time for school to start across the United States.

Public Reassurance

Even though the risk of getting COVID will drop as the vaccine penetrates a larger portion of the population, people will still be accustomed to seeing others wearing masks in public. There is no way to tell whether a person is fully vaccinated, and people’s minds will be put at ease if everyone is wearing a mask.

Mask-Wearing Protects Against Other Diseases

2020-21 has been known as the “flu season that wasn’t.” This is largely due to the mask-wearing habits of people around the world. The flu has not taken a strong position, and many people’s health has been preserved thanks to mask-wearing.

The only potential drawback to the lack of flu cases this year is that it will be difficult to formulate this year’s vaccine. Typically, vaccines are created based on the virus strains that were prevalent in the Southern Hemisphere a season before. Without a current flu strain to draw on, it may be difficult to create a working vaccine for whatever flu strains may be common in the fall and winter of 2021.

Herd Immunity

For the United States to reach herd immunity, 50 to 80 percent of the population will need to receive vaccines. It will take time for enough vaccines to be produced and distributed. Herd immunity can be reached when the entire community is protected from the disease, even if people are not necessarily immune.

Protecting Those Who Cannot Get the Vaccine

Until herd immunity is reached, there will be many immunocompromised people with cancer, HIV, and other diseases that make it impossible for them to receive the vaccine. Wearing masks consistently helps to protect these vulnerable people from catching the deadly disease.

Wear a Mask

Mask-wearing has unfortunately been politicized across the United States. Since there was a shortage of masks in the early months of the pandemic, many segments of the population found themselves highly vulnerable to the coronavirus.

As States begin to reopen and relax their statewide masks mandates, everyone should continue to follow the recommendations of the CDC and their respective state governments. This is not the time to let our guard down, , it will be possible that more surges of the coronavirus, especially with the new strains, will occur and negate all of the progress we have made against the disease.

John Grifonetti encourages all Americans to wear their masks as long as the CDC recommends it. By wearing masks, we can compensate for the slow vaccine rollout and protect vulnerable people from catching the deadly virus. John Grifonetti’s apparel company will continue to keep producing masks and will be ready to produce masks in large quantities if any major surge occurs. John believes that people should let go of the politicization of mask-wearing and use common sense in the fight against coronavirus.

This article does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors or the management of EconoTimes