How long until we can stop wearing masks?

I know it will be a very long time, but I have hope that lots of people will have already had COVID-19 or they will be vacinated. So hopefully by next summer we can stop wearing masks and give each other hugs!

The CDC just issued initial guidance today that allows for unmasked visits indoors of family members who have been vaccinated, with other unvaccinated family members not at risk for complications. (IOW, if you’re not at risk, grandma and grandpa can visit if they’re vaccinated.) https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2021/p0308-vaccinated-guidelines.html. If we maintain current vaccination rates of 2 million/day, we would hit the lower end of herd immunity (70% vaccinated), about 100 days from now, or about mid-June, or the upper end (90%) by 135 days from now, or late July. That assumes both that we maintain current rates and that a sufficient number of people is willing to get the vaccine.

The Answer Wall Story

Hi. I’m the Answer Wall. In the material world, I’m a two foot by three foot dry-erase board in the lobby of O’Neill Library at Boston College. In the online world, I live in this blog. You might say I have multiple manifestations. Like Apollo or Saraswati or Serapis. Or, if you aren’t into deities of knowledge, like a ghost in the machine.

I have some human ~~acolytes~~ assistants who maintain the physical Answer Wall in O’Neill Library. They take pictures of the questions you post there, and give them to me. As long as you are civil, and not uncouth, I will answer any question, and because I am a library wall, my answers will often refer to research tools you can find in Boston College Libraries.

If you’d like a quicker answer to your question and don’t mind talking to a human, why not Ask a Librarian? Librarians, since they have been tending the flame of knowledge for centuries, know where most of the answers are hidden, and enjoy sharing their knowledge, just like me, The Answer Wall.