[coccinelle]

I think CDC is saying vaccinated people should be masking, because they may still transmit the virus to all the unvacinated out there that have a much higher likelihood of ending up at the hospital should they get infected. If all were vaccinated, transmission would be much less of a problem (since risk of acute symptoms would be way lowered) and I'm not sure the CDC would mandate masks.

[giantg2]

If that's true though, then the argument frequently given about requiring vaccinations to prevent mutation is not very strong if vaccinated people are still infectious hosts. So it seems the need to masks even with vaccination exists.

[asdff]

The CDC doesn't care about cases, they care about hospitalizations, and 99% of hospitalizations are unvaccinated people. If everyone is vaccinated and the virus is passing freely, the CDC couldn't care less because very few people would be going to the hospital. Just like how we don't mandate masks for the common cold, since that doesn't overload our hospital system like COVID has.