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May 12, 2025

Talbot Spy

Nonpartisan Education-based News for Talbot County Community

5 News Notes

How to Protect Yourself and Others When You’ve Been Fully Vaccinated for COVID-19

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The Centers for Disease Control offers the following guidance for those who are fully vaccinated for COVID-19:

If you are fully vaccinated for COVID-19, you can participate in many of the activities that you did before the pandemic.

To maximize protection from the Delta variant and prevent possibly spreading it to others, wear a mask indoors in public if you are in an area of substantial or high transmission.

Wearing a mask is most important if you have a weakened immune system or if, because of your age or an underlying medical condition, you are at increased risk for severe disease, or if someone in your household has a weakened immune system, is at increased risk for severe disease, or is unvaccinated. If this applies to you or your household, you might choose to wear a mask regardless of the level of transmission in your area.

You should continue to wear a mask where required by laws, rules, regulations, or local guidance.

If you haven’t been vaccinated yet, find a vaccine here, text your zip code to 438829, or call 1-800-232-0233. In Maryland,

COVID-19 vaccines are effective at protecting you from getting sick. Based on what we know about COVID-19 vaccines, people who have been fully vaccinated can do things that they had stopped doing because of the pandemic.

These recommendations can help you make decisions about daily activities after you are fully vaccinated. They are not intended for healthcare settings.

Have You Been Fully Vaccinated?

In general, people are considered fully vaccinated:

  • 2 weeks after their second dose in a 2-dose series, such as the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, or
  • 2 weeks after a single-dose vaccine, such as Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen vaccine

If you don’t meet these requirements, regardless of your age, you are NOT fully vaccinated. Keep taking all precautions until you are fully vaccinated.

If you have a condition or are taking medications that weaken your immune system, you may NOT be protected even if you are fully vaccinated. You should continue to take all precautions recommended for unvaccinated people until advised otherwise by your healthcare provider.

What You Can Do

If you’ve been fully vaccinated:

  • You can resume activities that you did prior to the pandemic.
  • To reduce the risk of being infected with the Delta variant and possibly spreading it to others, wear a mask indoors in public if you are in an area of substantial or high transmission.
  • You might choose to wear a mask regardless of the level of transmission if you have a weakened immune system or if, because of your age or an underlying medical condition, you are at increased risk for severe disease, or if a member of your household has a weakened immune system, is at increased risk for severe disease, or is unvaccinated.
  • If you travel in the United States, you do not need to get tested before or after travel or self-quarantine after travel.
  • You need to pay close attention to the situation at your international destination before traveling outside the United States.
    1. You do NOT need to get tested before leaving the United States unless your destination requires it.
    2. You still need to show a negative test result or documentation of recovery from COVID-19 before boarding an international flight to the United States.
    3. You should still get tested 3-5 days after international travel.
    4. You do NOT need to self-quarantine after arriving in the United States.
  • If you’ve been around someone who has COVID-19, you should get tested 3-5 days after your exposure, even if you don’t have symptoms. You should also wear a mask indoors in public for 14 days following exposure or until your test result is negative.
  • You should isolate for 10 days if your test result is positive.

What You Should Keep Doing

For now, if you’ve been fully vaccinated:

  • You will still need to follow guidance at your workplace and local businesses.
  • If you travel, you should still take steps to protect yourself and others.
  • Wearing a mask over your nose and mouth is required on planes, buses, trains, and other forms of public transportation traveling into, within, or out of the United States and while indoors at U.S. transportation hubs such as airports and stations. Travelers are not required to wear a mask in outdoor areas of a conveyance (like on open deck areas of a ferry or the uncovered top deck of a bus).
  • Fully vaccinated international travelers arriving in the United States are still required to get tested 3 days before travel by air into the United States (or show documentation of recovery from COVID-19 in the past 3 months) and should still get tested 3-5 days after their trip.
  • You should still watch out for symptoms of COVID-19, especially if you’ve been around someone who is sick. If you have symptoms of COVID-19, you should get tested and stay home and away from others. If your test is positive, isolate at home for 10 days.
  • People who have a condition or are taking medications that weaken the immune system, should continue to take all precautions recommended for unvaccinated people until advised otherwise by their healthcare provider.

What We Know

  • COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective at preventing COVID-19, including severe illness and death.
  • COVID-19 vaccines are effective against severe disease and death from variants of the virus that causes COVID-19 currently circulating in the United States, including the Delta variant.
  • Infections happen in only a small proportion of people who are fully vaccinated, even with the Delta variant. When these infections occur among vaccinated people, they tend to be mild.
  • If you are fully vaccinated and become infected with the Delta variant, you can spread the virus to others.
  • People with weakened immune systems, including people who take immunosuppressive medications, may not be protected even if fully vaccinated.

What We’re Still Learning

  • How long COVID-19 vaccines can protect people.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

CDC Teams Respond to Shore as COVID-19 Cases Among Poultry Workers Climb to 279

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In an effort to provide support for poultry workers infected with COVID-19 — and to slow the spread of the deadly virus in Delmarva’s agricultural community — teams from the Centers for Disease Control and the states of Maryland, Delaware and Virginia are now on the ground providing increased testing and coordinating medical care.

A CDC report released Friday shows that the outbreak along the Eastern Shore is one of several hotspots around the country in communities where meat and poultry processors are a major employer.

“As of today, we have at least 279 lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 associated with poultry workers in Maryland,” said Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R) in a statement.

“The case rate in Wicomico County is now the fourth-highest in the state, higher than both Baltimore City and Baltimore County.”

In an effort to test as many workers as possible, the state has launched two new testing sites — one at Perdue Stadium in Salisbury and another in Caroline County, Hogan said.

A team from the CDC arrived in the region this week at the request of Hogan and Govs. Ralph S. Northam (D) of Virginia and John Carney (D) of Delaware.

The CDC personnel will work closely with state and local health officials on a “comprehensive public health plan for the Eastern Shore poultry industry,” Gov. Hogan said.

According to a CDC report released on Friday, there have been 4,913 cases of COVID-19 infection at 115 meat and poultry processing facility in 19 states. Twenty workers have died.

Those plants employ approximately 130,000 workers, the report said.

Researchers concluded that working conditions at many plants makes distancing and hygiene difficult. Crowded living and transportation conditions were also factors, the report said.

The CDC recommends spacing out employees, instituting new hand hygiene protocols, cleaning plants more thoroughly, improving medical leave policies and providing workers with more information about COVID-19.

After President Trump issued a directive that meat plants remain open to keep store shelves stocked, the union representing workers on Delmarva said additional protections are necessary.

“Our members in meatpacking and poultry plants are on the frontlines of a global pandemic that threatens our nation’s food supply,” said Jason Chorpenning, UFCW Local 27 president.

“These workers are putting their lives on the line every day to keep our country fed during this deadly outbreak and they must be protected. President Trump’s executive order now mandates that they continue to do so, without any language that ensures their safety.”

James Fisher, the spokesman for the Delmarva Poultry Industry, Inc., a trade group, said Trump’s executive order “will give needed assistance to Delmarva’s chicken processing companies by sending food supply chain resources to plants, giving them even more ways to keep workers safe and protected from coronavirus.”

“By resolving inconsistencies among states in enforcing CDC guidelines, the order is a good first step towards a uniform standard for worker safety during this crisis in meat and chicken processing,” Fisher added.

Hogan called the outbreak in Maryland “a serious public health concern” and “a potential threat to Maryland’s leading agricultural industry and to our nation’s essential food supply chain.”

Statewide in Maryland, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases climbed by more than 1,700 on Friday to 23,472. Since mid-March, at least 1,098 Marylanders have died from the virus.

By Bruce DePuyt

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

CDC Recommends Postponement or Cancellation of Events, Gatherings of 50 or More People for Next Eight Weeks

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Large events and mass gatherings can contribute to the spread of COVID-19 in the United States via travelers who attend these events and introduce the virus to new communities. Examples of large events and mass gatherings include conferences, festivals, parades, concerts, sporting events, weddings, and other types of assemblies. These events can be planned not only by organizations and communities but also by individuals.

Therefore, CDC, in accordance with its guidance for large events and mass gatherings, recommends that for the next 8 weeks, organizers (whether groups or individuals) cancel or postpone in-person events that consist of 50 people or more throughout the United States.

Events of any size should only be continued if they can be carried out with adherence to guidelines for protecting vulnerable populations, hand hygiene, and social distancing. When feasible, organizers could modify events to be virtual.

This recommendation does not apply to the day to day operation of organizations such as schools, institutes of higher learning, or businesses. This recommendation is made in an attempt to reduce introduction of the virus into new communities and to slow the spread of infection in communities already affected by the virus. This recommendation is not intended to supersede the advice of local public health officials.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.