Easter, Passover bring COVID-19 dangers even to the vaccinated – Los Angeles Times

Even with vaccinations increasing and COVID-19 cases still low in California, officials are urging caution during the spring holidays.

While conditions have definitely changed, particularly as weve vaccinated millions of individuals over the past three months, we do not yet have enough vaccine protection across the county to prevent more transmission if were not extraordinarily careful in these next few weeks, Los Angeles County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer told the county Board of Supervisors recently.

Here are some tips for Passover and Easter:

Officials say following safety guidelines is still important even if you have been vaccinated.

Basic steps like wearing masks in public and keeping a physical distance from those outside your household will still provide an additional layer of safety, experts say, and help further drive down COVID-19 transmission eventually allowing more parts of the economy to reopen.

Its important for everyone to continue using all the tools available to help stop this pandemic as we learn more about how COVID-19 vaccines work in real-world conditions, CDC guidance states, particularly because its not yet definitively known whether getting a COVID-19 vaccine will prevent you from spreading the virus that causes COVID-19 to other people, even if you dont get sick yourself.

Universal mask wearing, in particular, is seen as critical in keeping the spread of the coronavirus on a downward trend. A recent CDC report found that states that have imposed mask orders have seen declines in the growth of COVID-19-associated hospitalizations.

Officials say to avoid in-person holiday events if possible. But if you do have one, the agency offered these tips:

If attending a gathering:

If hosting:

Ferrer said she hopes increased vaccination will eventually lead to more freedoms. But caution still needs to be the watchword. Coronavirus case rates are on the rise in the United States in the aggregate, driven by increases in several states including New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Florida, although Californias numbers continue to decline.

We are so close, perhaps only several months away from having enough people vaccinated to accelerate our reopening without adverse effects, Ferrer said Saturday in a statement. However, we remain quite concerned with reports of rising cases of COVID and hospitalizations in a growing number of states. We know the virus does not respect borders.

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Easter, Passover bring COVID-19 dangers even to the vaccinated - Los Angeles Times