The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has unveiled a major update to its mask guidance, hailing it as a "powerful moment."
The CDC said Thursday that those who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 now largely no longer need to wear a mask or practice social distancing indoors, in addition to mostly being able to stop wearing masks outdoors as previously announced.
"Anyone who is fully vaccinated can participate in indoor and outdoor activities, large or small, without wearing a mask or physical distancing," CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said. "If you are fully vaccinated, you can start doing the things that you had stopped doing because of the pandemic."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
This is with the exception of where masks are "required by federal, state, local, tribal, or territorial laws, rules, and regulations, including local business and workplace guidance," the CDC said. Masks are also still required during travel, CNN notes, and the CDC is advising they still be worn when going to doctors, hospitals, or long-term care facilities, as well as in prisons, jails, or homeless shelters, according to The New York Times.
Walensky also noted that immunocompromised people should talk to their doctor before they stop wearing a mask, and anyone who develops COVID-19 symptoms should resume wearing one. Unvaccinated people remain at risk and should still wear their mask, Walensky added. But "we have all longed for this moment when we can get back to some sense of normalcy," Walensky said, and for vaccinated people, "that moment has come."
-
Critics’ choice: Watering holes for gourmandsFeature An endless selection of Mexican spirits, a Dublin-inspired bar, and an upscale Baltimore pub
-
Argentinian beef is at the center of American farmers’ woesThe Explainer ‘It feels like a slap in the face to rural America,’ said one farmer
-
‘Businesses that lose money and are uncompetitive won’t survive’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
FDA OKs generic abortion pill, riling the rightSpeed Read The drug in question is a generic version of mifepristone, used to carry out two-thirds of US abortions
-
RFK Jr. vaccine panel advises restricting MMRV shotSpeed Read The committee voted to restrict access to a childhood vaccine against chickenpox
-
Texas declares end to measles outbreakSpeed Read The vaccine-preventable disease is still spreading in neighboring states, Mexico and Canada
-
RFK Jr. shuts down mRNA vaccine funding at agencySpeed Read The decision canceled or modified 22 projects, primarily for work on vaccines and therapeutics for respiratory viruses
-
Measles cases surge to 33-year highSpeed Read The infection was declared eliminated from the US in 2000 but has seen a resurgence amid vaccine hesitancy
-
Kennedy's vaccine panel signals skepticism, changeSpeed Read RFK Jr.'s new vaccine advisory board intends to make changes to the decades-old US immunization system
-
Kennedy ousts entire CDC vaccine advisory panelspeed read Health Secretary RFK Jr. is a longtime anti-vaccine activist who has criticized the panel of experts
-
RFK Jr. scraps Covid shots for pregnant women, kidsSpeed Read The Health Secretary announced a policy change without informing CDC officials
