You're looking for a light switch, two values. But, it's not that.OK. So I ask again, if they reduce transmission then why am I being told by the CDC that I should be wearing a mask when I am fully vaccinated?
It's this.Because reduce does not mean stop.
And they do reduce, significantly. But, we're back at that a vaccine works best when it has very little work to do. It's not the light switch, not the forcefield, it's a reduction. Create a large enough number of events, and even a reduction is going to have a large absolute number slip through. Have 10 exposures of enough virus to infect you and 0.2 slip through, well below 1, you're fine. Have 100 exposures of enough virus to infect you and 2 slip through, maybe you're fine maybe you have a mild case. Have 10,000 exposures of enough virus to infect you and 200 slip through, your odds are way down now. Even if we then say that retransmission is super low (which clearly it is), lets say 1% for easy math. Then 1% of 0.2 is .002, of 2 is .02, of 200 is 2. So, if we let the pool of exposures get large enough, the absolute number of passing it on that happens will have a larger effect.That isn't really true if the vaccines don't prevent transmission or significantly reduce it.
That they want to reduce the number of exposures now while it's a relatively low number instead of wait until it's out of control and try to clean up after the fact when it's much harder? Glad you finally agree.Those numbers really justify why fully vaccinated people should be wearing a mask! I'm glad they released them to put the debate to bed.
It's way harder to clean up the mess than to prevent it in the first place. That should be amazingly obvious after the last 2 years.