Oops Maryland! CDC Mistakenly Releases Old Holiday Guidance; Updates To Come

MARYLAND — Updated recommendations from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention regarding COVID-19 protocols during the holidays was removed Monday just days after it was posted to the agency website.

As of Monday, the holiday tips landing page was removed, with CDC representatives noting that old guidance was posted in error and new guidance is coming soon.

"The content is in the process of being updated by CDC to reflect current guidance ahead of this holiday season," CDC spokeswoman Kristen Nordlund said in a statement. "The page had a technical update on Friday, but doesn't reflect the CDC's guidance ahead of this upcoming holiday season. CDC will share additional guidance soon."

The old guidelines listed virtual and in-person gatherings with fully vaccinated individuals as being the safest options for holiday gatherings. The agency also said masks should be worn at indoor gatherings or outdoor gatherings that are crowded, or gatherings with those who are not fully vaccinated.

"Attending gatherings to celebrate events and holidays increases your risk of getting and spreading COVID-19. The safest way to celebrate is virtually, with people who live with you, or outside and at least 6 feet apart from others," the CDC noted in its since-removed guidance.

And anyone celebrating indoors was urged to use a window fan to blow air out of the window and pull fresh air in through the other open windows, in the outdated message.

Anthony Fauci, the government's top infectious disease expert, said Sunday on CBS' "Face The Nation" that it is "too soon to tell" whether Christmas gatherings will be safe.

"We have had over the last few weeks a turning around of the acceleration of this, starting to come down in cases and hospitalizations and soon, deaths," Fauci said. "The one thing that we don't want to do is that we don't want to become complacent and say: 'OK, now we need to pull back. We don't need any more people to get vaccinated.'"

He later clarified his comments on Monday during an appearance on CNN following backlash.

"The best way to ensure that we'll be in good shape as we get into the winter would be to get more and more people vaccinated. That was misinterpreted as my saying, 'we can't spend Christmas with our families,' which was absolutely not the case," Fauci said.

Outdoor celebrations, including trick-or-treating, have the green light, according to CDC director Rochelle Walensky.

"I wouldn’t necessarily go to a crowded Halloween party, but I think that we should be able to let our kids go trick-or-treating in small groups," Walensky said on CBS' "Face the Nation" on Sept. 26.

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MD COVID-19 Stats

The Maryland Department of Public Health confirmed 1,078 cases of COVID-19 were recorded in the past seven days. The state's positivity rate was 4.08 percent on Monday, a decrease of .02 percent.

A total of 763 patients are currently hospitalized for COVID-19 in Maryland, the state's dashboard showed. Of those, 564 patients were in acute care and 199 were in intensive care.

Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, Maryland has recorded a total of 10,260 deaths, with 13 fatalities reported in the last 24 hours.

To date, 3,912,656 Marylanders have been fully vaccinated for the coronavirus; 84 percent of residents age 18 and older have received at least one dose of the vaccine.

COVID Booster Shots

Gov. Larry Hogan is urging anyone eligible for a booster shot to get one as soon as possible. Maryland Secretary of Health Dennis Schrader said that the following people can get Pfizer booster shots:

• people aged 65 years and older
• people aged 18 and older with underlying medical conditions
• people 19 and older living in a longterm care facility
• people aged 18 and older at increased risk for COVID-19 exposure and transmission because of occupational or institutional setting, such as health care workers, teachers and other essential workers.

Wegmans and Giant Food pharmacies — along with CVS, Walgreens and Walmart — are now giving third doses of the Pfizer vaccine in Maryland.

Moderna Eligibility

• Immunocompromised Marylanders who received a Moderna COVID-19 vaccine are also eligible for a booster shot.
• At this time, there is still no approval or guidance on Moderna boosters for the wider population.

Johnson & Johnson Eligibility

• At this time, there is no federal guidance for the more than 280,000 Marylanders who received the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine.