Vaccinated individuals made up 74 percent of those infected with COVID-19 in a recent Massachusetts outbreak, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data published Friday.
This outbreak in cases followed multiple public events this July in a Barnstable, Mass., town, said the CDC. The Washington Post said the municipality was Provincetown, located at the tip of Cape Cod and known for its July 4 parties.
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Overall, at least 469 COVID-19 cases were identified among Massachusetts residents who traveled to the town from July 3 to July 17. Testing found that 90 percent of specimens from 133 patients were found to be the highly infectious Delta variant.
“Cycle threshold values were similar among specimens from patients who were fully vaccinated and those who were not,” said the study.
According to the Washington Post, the entire outbreak included around 900 cases.
It was also reported Friday that CDC data indicates vaccinated individuals can infect others with the Delta variant similarly to unvaccinated people. Due to this complication, the centers backtracked guidance from May suggesting that vaccinated people could stop wearing masks indoors.
Now, the CDC recommends that all persons, including those who are fully vaccinated, wear masks in indoor public settings in areas where COVID-19 transmission is high. According to the Washington Post, data from the Provincetown outbreak fueled this decision.
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“This finding is concerning and was a pivotal discovery leading to CDC’s updated mask recommendation,” CDC director Rochelle Walensky said in a statement, according to the outlet. “The masking recommendation was updated to ensure the vaccinated public would not unknowingly transmit virus to others, including their unvaccinated or immunocompromised loved ones.”
While scientists still believe that vaccines offer significant protection, this and other recent data on breakthrough infections are an example of how they do not provide blanket protection. They do protect against severe illness and death.
“This shows the delta is formidable,” said Larry Corey, a virologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. “We can’t take one report of packed bars and extrapolate and say the sky is falling. The sky is not falling. But it does say the vaccine is not infallible.”
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According to the CDC data regarding Provincetown, only four fully vaccinated people infected during the outbreak were hospitalized.
An estimated 35,000 vaccinated people out of 162 million are having symptomatic breakthrough COVID-19 infections per week, said an internal CDC document obtained by the Washington Post.
According to Corey, more people getting vaccinated is still the key to ending the pandemic. Masking is also still a good way to prevent infection.
Although the CDC now recommends vaccinated people mask up in places with high transmission, the Provincetown outbreak occurred when there were low levels of transmission in the area, said the Washington Post.