Free At Last: CDC Updates Mask Recommendations for Fully Vaccinated
The moment that many of us have been waiting for has seemingly arrived, as the CDC has now updated their COVID-19 mask guidelines to reflect the state of affairs here in the United States.
After 14 months of worry and wonder, the nation’s top health officials are now suggesting that fully-vaccinated individuals can shed their protective face coverings, should they choose to do so.
People fully vaccinated against Covid-19 do not need to wear masks or practice social distancing indoors or outdoors, except under certain circumstances, the director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Thursday.
Advertisement - story continues below“If you are fully vaccinated, you can start doing the things that you had stopped doing because of the pandemic,” Dr. Rochelle Walensky said during a White House Covid-19 briefing. “We have all longed for this moment when we can get back to some sense of normalcy.”
Calling it an “exciting and powerful moment,” Walensky said the science supports the updated CDC guidance that “anyone who is fully vaccinated can participate in indoor and outdoor activities — large or small — without wearing a mask or physical distancing.”
The decision followed the science, with the CDC using an amalgamation of studies from both the US and Israel to come to their conclusion.
And while the mask mandate will certainly change the way many of us interact at the grocery store or inside of a restaurant, the CDC has not lifted their mandates for travelers, who are often packed into airplanes or busses with recirculating air and no way of knowing who is at-risk and who is not.