CNN's Sanjay Gupta worries about a muddled pandemic message

NEW YORK (AP) — At this stage in the pandemic, CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta is concerned that Americans are not getting clear enough messages about what they should or shouldn't be doing to keep themselves and others protected.

Should people still be wearing a mask outside? (He doesn't.) What can a vaccinated person do that an unvaccinated person shouldn't? Is it safe to eat inside at a restaurant? (Not if it's full, he believes.)

The veteran CNN chief medical correspondent — who produced and narrated a documentary about the race to develop a vaccine airing this weekend — said government medical experts have sacrificed clarity in an attempt to be comprehensive at a time vaccines are changing the outbreak's picture.

Right now you have people on both extremes: those who won't let down their guard, or masks, despite 115 million Americans now fully vaccinated, and those who say “you guys don't know what you're talking about, so I'm not going to abide by any of these guidelines,” he said.

“I've been for 20 years now trying to communicate complicated health messages,” he said. “It's not easy, by any means, but it has to be understandable. At the end of the day, you can have a beautiful message, but if people aren't going to understand it, you have to go back to the drawing board.”

Kenneth Resnicow, a professor at the University of Michigan's School of Public Health, said he has noticed something similar. Continued discoveries in how the virus is transmitted, along with the societal changes brought on by vaccination, is most responsible for the uncertainty.

He said the attention now should be placed on people who are firmly anti-vax because simple education won't be enough.

“I don't think we have a good plan nationally for reaching them,” Resnicow said.

Gupta said he's concerned...