Effective today is Governor Greg Abbott's Executive Order (GA-34) lifting the mask mandate in Texas and allowing all businesses and facilities in the state to operate at 100% capacity, should they choose to. The governor's statement included these words:
We must now do more to restore livelihoods and normalcy for Texans by opening Texas 100 percent. Make no mistake, COVID-19 has not disappeared, but it is clear from the recoveries, vaccinations, reduced hospitalizations, and safe practices that Texas are using that state mandates are no longer needed. Today's announcement does not abandon safe practices that Texans have mastered over the past year. Instead, it is a reminder that each person has a role to play in their own personal safety and the safety of others. With this executive order, we are ensuring that all businesses and families in Texas have the freedom to determine their own destiny.
Dan and I received our second COVID-19 vaccinations on Tuesday, March 2. According to the medical experts, the vaccine should be at its full effectiveness two weeks later, which will be March 16, for us.
The CDC has issued a statement about what it means to be fully vaccinated:
If you’ve been fully vaccinated:
- -You can gather indoors with fully vaccinated people without wearing a mask.
- -You can gather indoors with unvaccinated people from one other household (for example, visiting with relatives who all live together) without masks, unless any of those people or anyone they live with has an increased risk for severe illness from COVID-19.
- -If you’ve been around someone who has COVID-19, you do not need to stay away from others or get tested unless you have symptoms.
- However, if you live in a group setting (like a correctional or detention facility or group home) and are around someone who has COVID-19, you should still stay away from others for 14 days and get tested, even if you don’t have symptoms.
Some medical experts have criticized the CDC's new guidelines for fully-vaccinated people, saying it is too restrictive. Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease expert at Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security was quoted as saying, "It's not as if you get your vaccine and nothing changes. Everything changes."
William Schaffner, a Vanderbilt University Medical Center infectious disease expert was quoted as saying, "Go out there into the world and start engaging with each other."
I spoke with my own primary care physician on March 3, and she encouraged me to "trust" the vaccine and begin living a more normal life once again. I am looking forward to doing just that. I've already made an appointment to get my hair cut on March 17, something I'm desperately in need of. And I've made plans to have lunch with my friend, Kay, on that same day. I will never again take for granted the blessing of visiting with a close friend, something that has been out of the question for the past year.
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