Relying on the 2020 playbook as we head into 2022 is as foolish as relying on the 2019 playbook as we entered 2020. The game has changed. Given the availability of vaccines, here are 10 updates to the playbook for 2022 (from 12/15. Still holds.)
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washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…
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washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…
1: “Fully vaccinated” should mean you’ve received a booster shot.
Your body needs to “see” the signature of this virus again to restore protection against the delta and omicron variants.
Your body needs to “see” the signature of this virus again to restore protection against the delta and omicron variants.
2: Stop equating all control strategies.
Haphazardly providing the public with a long list of controls without any order or logic is confusing and harmful.
Haphazardly providing the public with a long list of controls without any order or logic is confusing and harmful.
3: Where all people are vaccinated, we should do away with mask mandates and distancing requirements.
Post-vaccines, the control strategy should look like what New York recently adopted
Post-vaccines, the control strategy should look like what New York recently adopted
4: Yes, ventilation still matters.
High ventilation essentially shrinks the pool of susceptible people in a room.
High ventilation essentially shrinks the pool of susceptible people in a room.
5: CDC must update metrics for when to mask.
Test positivity, for example, was never an indicator of community spread and is even more flawed now due to the millions of at-home rapid tests that don’t make it into the tally.
Test positivity, for example, was never an indicator of community spread and is even more flawed now due to the millions of at-home rapid tests that don’t make it into the tally.
6: One-way masking is fine.
Anyone who fears moving away from universal masking, the great news is that they can continue to wear an N95 mask — along with being vaccinated and boosted — and live a low-risk life regardless of what others around them are doing.
Anyone who fears moving away from universal masking, the great news is that they can continue to wear an N95 mask — along with being vaccinated and boosted — and live a low-risk life regardless of what others around them are doing.
7: Make rapid antigen tests the gold standard for testing instead of PCR tests.
From a public health standpoint, what matters is not whether you test (+) days or weeks after you’re recovered; it’s whether you are actively infectious, which is what rapid tests tell us.
From a public health standpoint, what matters is not whether you test (+) days or weeks after you’re recovered; it’s whether you are actively infectious, which is what rapid tests tell us.
8: Isolation periods should be reduced from 10 days to five.
We should allow people to test out of isolation with two negative rapid tests. Current guidelines unnecessarily disrupt work, school and travel, providing a strong disincentive for testing.
We should allow people to test out of isolation with two negative rapid tests. Current guidelines unnecessarily disrupt work, school and travel, providing a strong disincentive for testing.
9: Close contacts should not be sent home for quarantine.
Quarantine is a blunt instrument when you have no information on who is actively infectious.
Quarantine is a blunt instrument when you have no information on who is actively infectious.
10: Masks for kids in schools should be optional in the new year.
Risk of hosp to kids remains low, as it always has been. Plus, all school-age kids now have access to vaccines. Parents who don’t feel comfortable can always have their children wear high-grade masks (see #6)
Risk of hosp to kids remains low, as it always has been. Plus, all school-age kids now have access to vaccines. Parents who don’t feel comfortable can always have their children wear high-grade masks (see #6)
Before vaccines arrived, the best public health strategy against covid was to throw everything we had at the virus — masking, distancing, hand-washing, cleaning, ventilation. That was the 2020 playbook, essentially an admission that no one strategy in and of itself was sufficient
Public health’s credibility is on the line now. The public and businesses see that public health guidance isn’t keeping up with the times, and they’re right.
#2022Playbook
washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…
#2022Playbook
washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…
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