As vaccination efforts ramp up in the Bay Area, people look forward to living a more normal life again. But medical experts say now is not the time to leave your mask at home, even if you received both doses.
“Health care workers who are vaccinated, they come into my office and we take off our masks because we're both safe,” said UCSF Doctor Monica Gandhi.
But she and other experts say vaccinated people should still wear a mask in public because it's possible they can still carry and spread COVID-19.
“We haven't gotten the sound definitive 100% seal of approval,” she said. “So around unvaccinated we behave differently -- masked and distancing.”
Doctor John Swartzberg says until more research is complete, vaccinated people should act like they can spread the virus.
“Still have to be careful don't know enough about how well the vaccines will protect us from being asymptomatic carriers,” he said.
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He adds that people can begin to let their guard down when more people are vaccinated and the number of new COVID-19 cases drops.
“As that number comes down and the number of people getting vaccinated goes up, we can be more and more relaxed about what we're doing … not yet,” said Swartzberg.
