Easing of COVID-19 restrictions can be confusing

TUCSON, Ariz. (KOLD News 13) - The State of Arizona, Pima County and now the Centers for Disease Control have all added a bit of easing to the coronavirus mitigation standards.

The latest came from the CDC which issued new guidelines for people who have been fully immunized. Fully immunized means both shots and a two week waiting period for the vaccine to become acclimated to the body.

It says people can gather in small groups without a mask and without social distancing if they are all fully immunized. The other changes can be found here.

The state of Arizona has removed occupancy standards for restaurants, gyms and movie theaters.

But that doesn’t mean they can go back to the days before the pandemic.

The mandates over mask wearing and social distancing continue.

“A agree that keeping the mask mandate and the physical distancing in place is an extremely effective way too slow the transmission of Covid-19,” said Dr. Cara Christ, the Arizona State Health Director.

Some establishments may be able to squeeze in a few more customers or clients, but the social distancing mandate will limit the number.

Pima County has eased restrictions on sporting events in parks, eased limits on crowd size and believes the curfew is no longer needed. (the curfew was struck down by the courts)

Workers were busy at the Kino Sports Park South getting it ready for organized sports.

“That’s an example of a small change, a small easing that makes a lot of sense based on the public health data we have available,” said Dr. Matt Heinz, a member of the Pima County Board of Supervisors.

But he also added that it gets a bit confusing when everybody opens up a little bit at a time and each one tackles a different issue.

“I get it, nobody likes the pandemic,” he said. “Nobody likes wearing the masks if they don’t have to or to be social distancing but it’s just not time we can do that safely unfortunately.”