Amid confusion over COVID-19 mitigation guidelines for people who have been vaccinated, Joe Biden said in an interview Friday with NBC’s « Today » that …
Amid confusion over COVID-19 mitigation guidelines for people who have been vaccinated, Joe Biden said in an interview Friday with NBC’s « Today » that it’s a « patriotic responsibility » for vaccinated people to wear a mask, even outdoors. The president, who was at a distance of about 10 feet from NBC host Craig Melvin, said that if they were sitting closer together, « I’d have my mask on and I’d like you to have a mask even though we’ve both been vaccinated. » Biden said vaccinated people should wear a mask so they don’t spread the virus to their families, despite studies indicating the shots prevent transmission as well as infection. And further, the risk of transmission outdoors, vaccinated or unvaccinated, is miniscule. « It’s a patriotic responsibility for God’s sake, » Biden said. « It’s making sure that your wife, your children if in fact they haven’t been vaccinated, making sure that they’re not going to get sick. » Biden was asked if he would stop wearing a mask outdoors in light of new Centers for Disease Control guidelines. « Sure, I mean, but what I’m going to do though because the likelihood of my being able to be outside and people not come up to me is not very high so it’s like look, you and I took our masks off when I came in. Because look at the distance we are, » Biden said. However, an MIT study reported this week found the key issue is not the distance, it’s the amount of time spend with an infected person and whether or not it’s indoors or outside. The risk of being exposed to COVID-19 indoors can be as great at 60 feet as it is at 6 feet in a room where the air is mixed, the study found.
