We know more science about the COVID vaccines and the CDC’s relaxed their masking guidelines in certain situations. So you might be wondering about the risks of getting sick with COVID-19.
We asked the experts, what’s the risk of getting COVID-19 from a trip to the grocery store?
Their take: The risk of contracting COVID-19 is low risk if you’re unmasked and fully vaccinated.
The risk of going to the grocery store unmasked, if you are unvaccinated would be higher. You could definitely have a chance of being exposed to somebody who was unknowingly contagious with COVID-19," Katie Cary, assistant vice president of infection prevention for HCA Continental Division, told Newsy.
"It's also a factor in how much virus stays in the air from those who are unmasked. So a large chain store may have a much larger are with higher ceilings and more ventilation and truly just more air airflow in there. And 20 people in a large store is very different than 20 people in, say, a corner gas station that's very small and enclosed," said Dr. Kelly Cawcutt, associate medical director of infection control and epidemiology at Nebraska Medical Center.
"Walking by somebody who's infected — masks or not — it’s going to be low risk of transmission. Short of somebody directly coughing or sneezing right in your face, which is unlikely if you're on the move," said Dr. Joseph Khabbaza, a pulmonary critical care specialist at Cleveland Clinic.
For more answers on what is low, medium, or high risk, visit newsy.com/whatstherisk.
