CDC lifts some mask, distancing restrictions

Have you been fully vaccinated against covid?

Then it’s OK to show up for Saturday’s Shamrock Parade and Irish festivities – without a mask.

It’s OK to eat out and have friends over for a party if all of you are protected.

If you are fully vaccinated you can gather privately in small groups without masks or physical distancing, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

The CDC cautioned that even if you are fully vaccinated, you should continue to take precautions from strangers in public or while visiting unvaccinated people.

2.7 million more now eligible for vaccine

Here’s good news if you are age 55 or older, a teacher, other frontline worker with occupational risk or age 16 to 64 with preexist ing conditions.

The state has entered Phase 1B for school and daycare employees, manufacturing, grocery store and retail workers, state, local and federal government employees, corrections officers and law enforcement.

People who live and work in group home settings, homeless shelters, community training homes, behavioral substance abuse group homes and migrant farmworkers who live in shared housing are also included.

The expanded Phase 1B include about 2.7 million of 5.3 million South Carolinians.

Gov. Henry McMaster said the goal is to have everyone vaccinated by summer.

Pre-existing health conditions that qualify you for vaccine include cancer, chronic kidney disease, chronic lung disease, diabetes, Down syndrome, heart disease, HIV/AIDS, obesity, sickle cell anemia and pregnancy.

People with developmental disabilities or other disabilities that put them at high risk of developing severe illness or dying from covid-19 infection are also included.

The Chronicle welcomes your covid questions at JerryBellune@yahoo.com