San Luis Obispo, CA — Anyone who has been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 now has new interim public health recommendations for safely visiting with each other or with unvaccinated people in private, non-healthcare settings, and how to approach isolation, quarantine and testing.

The recommendations were released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on March 8, 2021. People are fully vaccinated two weeks after completing the full series of doses.

“While we are excited to offer this new guidance to the community, we urge all SLO County residents, including those who are fully vaccinated, to continue taking health precautions in public,” said Dr. Penny Borenstein, County Health Officer. “Please continue to wear a mask in public, get tested if you’ve been exposed, and avoid large gatherings.”

The CDC says fully vaccinated people should continue to take COVID-19 prevention measures in public, like wearing a well-fitted mask and staying at least six feet from others. Fully vaccinated people can also:

• Gather indoors with fully vaccinated people without wearing a mask
• Gather indoors with unvaccinated people from one other household without masks, unless they or anyone they live with has an increased risk for severe COVID-19 illness.
• Refrain from quarantine and testing following a known exposure if asymptomatic

When visiting anyone at an increased risk for severe COVID-19 disease, however, fully vaccinated people should adhere to prevention measures (wear masks, practice physical distancing, etc.).  People in California must wear face coverings when they are outside of the home, with some exceptions, per California Department of Public Health guidance.

This guidance comes as the U.S. surpasses over 58 million doses of vaccine administered nationwide, with nearly 18% of the country’s population having received at least one dose. County Public Health plans to administer nearly 13,000 doses this week, adding to the more than 80,000 doses that have already been administered in SLO County thus far.

Currently eligible community members can now sign up for a first-dose vaccine appointment through the County’s Vaccine Appointment Registry RecoverSLO.org/VaccineAppointments or by calling the County’s Phone Assistance Center at (805) 543-2444. Appointments are also available at some local pharmacies. For more questions, visit our Frequently Asked Questions page.