Dr. Stella Safo, NYC-based HIV primary care physician, joined Yahoo Finance to discuss the latest on Covid-19.

Video Transcript

JEN ROGERS: I want to bring in Dr. Stella Safo for some more on what we've been talking about here. So Dr. Safo, I mean, look, everybody has been trying to figure out what can you do as you've started to know more people that are getting vaccinated. One question has been, will this guidance from the CDC encourage more people to actually go and get vaccinated? Do you think that this will encourage more people?

STELLA SAFO: Absolutely. I mean, what is the benefit of getting vaccinated if we're still living exactly the way that we've been living with COVID in this last year plus? I think one of the things that the CDC guidelines were meant to do is to really encourage people that there are certain opportunities we have once we're vaccinated to see loved ones, to have small gatherings, that we didn't have or we shouldn't do if you haven't been vaccinated.

And so the guidelines really are, I think, a walk back to, I wouldn't say pre-pandemic days because I don't know if we'll ever see exactly that, but at least to a time where we can relax some of the precautions that we've all been taking.

ADAM SHAPIRO: Doctor, in the case of, say, grandparents who are vaccinated, they go and travel. When they get back, is there a chance they could, even though they are protected, spread a variant or the original COVID-19? Could they spread that to someone who's not been vaccinated, or is the vaccine, do we know if it protects from, then, the spread?

STELLA SAFO: Yeah, so it's really important to remember that the vaccine will protect you if you yourself have been vaccinated against severe COVID and death from COVID. However, it isn't clear yet that the vaccine will really necessarily decrease your chances of transmitting COVID. And so we're operating on this idea that if you've been vaccinated, there still is a chance, although likely lower, that you could transmit COVID.

So for example, in the example that you gave with the grandparents, if the grandparents travel, they themselves will be OK. But if they come back, let's say, to other older adults who haven't been vaccinated who could get severe COVID, they could transmit a variant or kind of the wild type COVID to the individual that hasn't been vaccinated. And so, the most important thing to know about the CDC precautions is that you still want to take regular precautions.

Vaccinated or not, in public, you should wear a mask. Limit your travel. In fact, the travel guidelines actually haven't changed at all. But the nice thing is that there is a little bit of relaxation now that if you've all been vaccinated, you can be together. However, even if you've been vaccinated, you can still carry COVID. So if you have been vaccinated and you may be transmitting COVID, just think about who you are around that might be high risk for severe COVID and really modify your interactions based on that.

JEN ROGERS: So, one of the issues with public health has been, do we go really far and we're very stringent? Or do we give a little bit of leeway? And then there's always the, well, you give an inch, people take a mile. I mean, have you been looking at what's been going on at spring break down in Florida?

So when people are down there, either partying on the beaches, we see these pictures. But then they see this messaging that, well, it's OK for people that have been vaccinated to hang out. Do you see how it can be a little confusing for some people that they think, well, you know, most of the older people that I know are vaccinated. It's OK for me to go on a trip.

STELLA SAFO: Yeah, and it's unfortunate. But here's where critical thinking really comes in. Because if you look at what the CDC has released, the guidelines are super clear. No one, vaccinated or not, should be doing medium or large gatherings-- no one, unmasked, right? And so, the guidelines really are to allow the very kind of individual cases where you have one or two households, you've all been vaccinated, you can show your cards to prove that you have, and now you're being unmasked inside.

But this idea that individuals will take this relaxation and then say, we don't have to wear masks in public, we can gather in large gatherings, that is a willful misunderstanding of the guidelines. And it's less at that point about making those people understand and more probably individuals that don't want to understand, unfortunately, that may want to have these more permissive behaviors.

And as we've said from the beginning of COVID, COVID will be contained by the actions of all of us. And so, risk mitigating by wearing a mask, getting vaccinated if you're eligible, and staying away from large crowds, that's going to remain the recommendation. And if you're not doing that, unfortunately, you're adding to the continued spread. And we know the continued spread will lead to variants, which may mean that we're in this for the long run. So this is like a group project. If we all do our part in the group project, we can hopefully be out of this sooner rather than later.

JEN ROGERS: Love it, the group project. I hope we get assigned together. Dr. Stella Safo, thank you so much. Great to have you on.