San Francisco's health director is weighing in on the latest state decision made to adopt guidance by the Centers for Disease Control on allowable behavior for fully vaccinated individuals.
"We welcome the state's decision to adopt the CDC's guidance for gatherings, and we have updated our Health Order accordingly," said Dr. Grant Colfax. "We are now at a point in this pandemic where fully vaccinated San Franciscans can attend small indoor gatherings with other fully vaccinated friends and loved ones without wearing masks or physical distancing or with unvaccinated people from one household who are at low risk of severe illness from COVID-19."
Colfax added that for the purposes of this guidance, individuals are considered fully vaccinated for COVID-19 two weeks after they have received the second dose in a two-dose series of Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna, or two weeks after they have received a single-dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
Currently, individuals 16 and older are eligible to get vaccinated in San Francisco.
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However, Colfax explained that even vaccinated people "may carry and transmit the disease, so it's still very important that individuals consider the risk that exposure may have on those around them."
For that reason, Colfax said face coverings, physical distancing, hand washing and limiting indoor activities and gatherings with people outside one's household remain as important as ever, especially with the increased prevalence of more contagious variants in San Francisco.
Per the state's guidance, when visiting with unvaccinated individuals at high risk for severe COVID-19 disease, vaccinated people should continue to wear masks and practice physical distancing.
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"We hope this news offers further incentive for people to get vaccinated as soon as possible," Colfax said. "We want to thank everyone for their ongoing cooperation and compliance with the state's guidance. Our City's commitment to following the health guidelines has resulted in the lowest death rate from COVID-19 of any major city in the country. With more people getting vaccinated every day, the light at the end of the tunnel is getting closer. We just need everyone to hang in there and keep up the good work."
