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Washington (dpa) - In view of the great progress made in corona vaccinations, a little more social contact should be possible again in the USA.
According to new recommendations from the CDC health authority, fully vaccinated people can now come together again in closed rooms in small private groups without a mask and without a minimum distance.
In the same way, they can meet with unvaccinated people - provided they do not belong to a risk group, for example because of their age or a previous illness.
In public, however, strict requirements are also to be adhered to in the USA.
Experts do not see the all-clear for a long time.
CDC Director Rochelle Walensky emphasized that outside of closed rooms it is still strongly recommended that everyone - vaccinated and unvaccinated - wear a mask, keep their distance and avoid large crowds.
Travel that is not absolutely necessary should also be avoided.
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In the United States, according to the agency, around 59 million people have received at least one dose of vaccine so far, and around 31 million have already received two doses.
The United States has a population of approximately 330 million.
So far, three vaccines are available there.
The vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer / Biontech are administered in two doses each.
A syringe is sufficient for the Johnson & Johnson substance.
People are considered fully vaccinated two weeks after the last required vaccination.
Andy Slavitt, senior corona advisor from the White House, said that an average of 2.2 million doses had been administered recently.
On Saturday it was even 2.9 million - the highest daily value so far.
Walensky said the new recommendations are an "important first step".
With the vaccination program, the recommendations should be gradually adapted.
The situation is still «very serious».
Given the progress in vaccinations, the country is beginning to come over the mountain.
The United States is the country that has been hit hardest by the pandemic in absolute terms.
Since it began a year ago, more than half a million people have died with or died from the virus, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University.
So far, more than 29 million have been infected with the virus.
For some time now, the number of infections has been falling significantly.
On a seven-day average, around 59,000 new infections were recently counted every day, and fewer than 2000 deaths per day, said Walensky.
This is still too much, stressed the CDC boss.
The country is still in a serious crisis.
But she is hopeful.
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New President Joe Biden has made fighting the pandemic his primary goal.
White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki announced a speech to the nation on Thursday evening (local time).
Among other things, Biden will talk about the sacrifices the Americans made in the course of the pandemic year and the losses they had to cope with.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210308-99-741130 / 3