Today's Recap:

• This week’s big news for employers: the CDC quietly updated COVID quarantine guidelines for those fully vaccinated. Vaccinated people can skip quarantine when exposed, if it’s at least 2 weeks after the final dose, and within 90 days of that final dose. Read our full blog post here. We expect to continue to have updates as the CDC finalizes details and rolls this out.
• COVID cases are still falling, but experts worry it’s the calm before the storm caused by all these variants. And, we’re still bracing for the impact of Super Bowl parties and Valentine’s Day outings…
• NY State gave a little Valentine’s Day present to restaurants and bars, pushing the mandatory closing time from 10 to 11pm.
• Manufacturers have announced the release of more than 12 billion vaccine doses in 2021. The world has 7.8 billion people. Sounds like enough, right? Until you consider these obstacles to distribution.
• Home healthcare workers are all in phase 1a, but a shockingly low number of them have been vaccinated. Their hesitancy and vaccine availability play into it.
• Mask mandates work. Declines in hospitalizations closely followed state mask mandates.
• A new outbreak cluster in Australia is tied to the use of a nebulizer someone used at a quarantine hotel.
• In NY, an aide to Gov. Cuomo admitted to underreporting the number of COVID deaths in nursing homes. In Ohio, at least 4000 deaths may have been underreported through the state’s reporting system.  
• There’s a Reddit thread that’s been widely quoted about an anecdotal link between COVID vaccine and Shingles. According to Dr. Bill Schaffner of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, it’s an internet myth. There’s no evidence linking the COVID vaccine and Shingles.  
• And remember, COVID isn’t the only illness out there. There’s a Listeria outbreak linked to certain soft cheesescausing severe illness, but only in 7 people so far. They haven’t found the exact type causing it yet, so consider choosing pasteurized options for queso fresco, blanco, or panela until they figure it out.
  
  

Best Questions:

Why do we still need to mask and socially distance after getting vaccinated?

For starters, there’s a huge gap in our knowledge about transmission; we don’t even really know much about how flu is transmitted after the flu shot, and we’ve been doing that for decades. We do know that the COVID vaccine reduces the chances of actually getting sick and the severity and length of illness if you do, which prevents hospitalizations and death. What we don’t know is whether this actually prevents transmission. So you may have fewer or no COVID symptoms, but still be infected with and still able to transmit the virus after vaccination, which is why you should still wear a mask and socially distance even if you’re vaccinated. More studies will be conducted as more people get vaccinated. We’ll know more in the next few months as we see real-time whether transmission is reduced or not.

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So, why can vaccinated people skip quarantine if we don’t know whether they can transmit the coronavirus?

It’s true that we still don’t know if you can spread the virus after being vaccinated (it just hasn’t been studied yet), but the CDC is taking an informed gamble in their guidance allowing vaccinated people to skip quarantine starting 2 weeks after their second dose for 90 days after that second dose. They think that a lot of transmission is pre-symptomatic (before you develop symptoms) rather than asymptomatic (without ever developing symptoms). Plus they think that the “individual and societal benefits of avoiding unnecessary quarantine” may outweigh the possible but unknown risk of transmission. For this and more questions related to this new quarantine guidance, check out our full blog post on the subject if you haven’t already.

How long does the vaccine protect you? Does the 90 day quarantine exemption mean it only protects you for that long?

We still don’t know exactly how long the vaccine provides protection, because it just hasn’t been very long since we started studying it. Early reports show immunity lasting at least 4 months, but potentially longer. The 90 day recommendations that the CDC uses for both “natural immunity” after a COVID infection and vaccine-based immunity is based on what we know for sure, which is that both protect you for at least that long. Plus they’ve said that sticking to 90 days for both types of immunity (post-COVID and post-vaccination) helps make guidelines clearer and simpler to follow. We expect that the 90 day windows will be lengthened in the future as we learn more.

Vaccine eligibility and scheduling is so confusing for our employees.  Any guidance?

We’re right there with you - it’s a gargantuan task. Helping your employees register for their state systems is probably your best bet for now. It’ll help them to get notified when they’re eligible to receive the vaccine, when the vaccine becomes available in their area, or when there are open appointment slots. The Federal government secured another 200 million doses, but getting them to vaccinators and into people's arms is a huge undertaking, adding to employees’ confusion about why they can’t get vaccinated now.

Where do you recommend we refer employees to get good information about COVID and vaccination?

This is a really important question to be asking. Information is power in making good personal medical decisions. We like these general COVID resources: CDC's COVID resources, the Mayo Clinic's COVID guide and the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. For vaccine specific questions, try the Myths and Facts page from the CDC. Helping your employees get good information who are either delaying vaccination or are undecided will help you get a larger portion of your employees vaccinated.

Best Read:

It turns out that there may be one silver lining to COVID. We wiped out the flu this year. Could we do it again?

Best Laugh:

Loic Suberville on Twitter: "If God was French...… "

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