How disappointing to learn that the CDC is recommending masks for all students, teachers and staff when school resumes next month. It’s also disconcerting that the CDC is now recommending the resumption of masks in indoor public spaces and some outdoor spaces for people in areas of the country with high COVID-19 transmission rates. High transmission rates are defined as more than 50 infections per 100,000 people over seven days.
By those standards, several Vermont counties show up on a CDC map as being at low risk while most counties are at moderate risk. The state’s own modeling data shows current case counts at 5.3 per 100,000 people over a 14-day period and state health officials have not reinstituted any masking guidelines. Breaking that data down further, on July 26 the state saw 5.3 cases per 100,000 people. Among approximately 420,000 fully-vaccinated people, the state saw 1.24 cases per 100,000 people.
But the new CDC guidance is raising concerns that the highly transmissible Delta variant will result in growing cases here as well. Modeling data presented at Governor Scott’s weekly press conference indicates that this is likely. Case rates are projected to remain flattest for those who are fully vaccinated and climb higher for those who are not vaccinated. Aggregate weekly case counts are predicted to rise from just under 25 to over 50 by August 15 – or roughly double in two weeks.
Since the start of the pandemic Vermonters have done the right thing and now 83.7% of eligible people have started or completed vaccination leaving some 90,000 eligible people unvaccinated. We’re lucky here that so many people have taken this seriously and stepped up to protect themselves and others.
We are currently the safest place in the nation, but we are not an island and the Delta variant is here as well. It’s so disappointing that all our hard work may still result in students, staff and teachers having to mask-up in schools.
It’s still disappointing that so many of our fellow citizens in other parts of the country couldn’t take precautions to slow the spread of COVID (and its ever-evolving variants) by getting vaccinated – if only so their kids could safely attend school this year.
