My Opinion on the No-Mask Mandate Saanvi Kunisetty

 My Opinion on the No-Mask Mandate

Saanvi Kunisetty

New CDC guidelines now state that if you are vaccinated, you do not need to wear a mask anymore. Many people greeted this new rule with jubilance, but I feel otherwise. Firstly, it lacks practicality. I mean, how will we know who’s vaccinated or not vaccinated? We aren’t carrying around proof to show anyone that we are vaccinated. So, in reality, someone un-vaccinated could be walking around without a mask, and we wouldn’t even know. Aside from this, the no-mask mandate also has health and safety issues. Sure, the vaccine does do a lot to prevent you from getting COVID, but it’s not hundred percent effective. It is shown that the vaccine has proved to be ineffective against certain other strains of COVID. With the new Delta variant predicted to hit the US, we should be taking maximum precautions to ensure that we do not face another huge wave of the pandemic. Instead, we are loosening up. Another thing to keep in mind is that masks are only as effective as possible when both people in proximity are wearing them. If only one person is wearing it, the probability of COVID transmission is more likely. And one of the most important things to keep in mind is that fully vaccinated people can still be carriers. This means that they could still carry the virus, but would just be asymptomatic for it, meaning that you wouldn’t even know that they were carriers. They could easily transmit the virus to others if they didn’t wear a mask. Of course, the likelihood of a vaccinated person being a carrier is at a lower rate, but that doesn’t mean that it’s completely impossible. For all these reasons, I feel that wearing masks is imperative, now more than ever before.