Americans fully vaccinated against Covid-19 need not wear mask at all times: CDC

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention took a major step Tuesday toward coaxing Americans into a post-pandemic world, relaxing the rules on mask wearing outdoors as coronavirus cases recede and people increasingly chafe against restrictions.

The mask guidance is modest and carefully written: Americans who are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus no longer need to wear a mask outdoors while walking, running, hiking or biking alone, or when in small gatherings. Masks are still necessary in crowded outdoor venues like sports stadiums, the CDC said.

But President Joe Biden hailed it as a landmark moment in the pandemic. “Go get the shot. It’s never been easier,” Biden said on the White House grounds. “And once you’re fully vaccinated, you can go without a mask when you’re outside and away from big crowds.”

The CDC stopped short of telling even fully vaccinated people that they could shed their masks outdoors altogether — citing the risk that remains for transmitting the coronavirus, unknown vaccination levels among people in crowds and the still-high caseloads in some regions.

But the CDC’s director, Dr Rochelle Walensky, emphasized a more expansive interpretation, telling reporters, “We no longer feel that the vaccinated people require masks outdoors,” outside “large public venues, such as concerts, stadiums and things like that.”

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Governors in California, New York, Louisiana, Maine and Massachusetts all relaxed outdoor mask mandates after the CDC’s announcement. In Tennessee, Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican, went much further, ignoring the federal government’s advice as he declared it was “time for celebrations and weddings and conventions and concerts and parades and proms” to take place “without limits on gathering sizes.”

On Capitol Hill, a group of Republican lawmakers who are also medical professionals released an advertisement Tuesday encouraging vaccination. Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., a medical doctor, told viewers that the reason to get vaccinated was simple: “So we can throw away our masks, and live life as free as before.”

For Biden, the CDC’s announcement was a moment to bask in what he called the “stunning progress” Americans had made since he took office. Next week, he said, he will outline a plan “to get us to July 4 as our target date to get life in America closer to normal and begin to celebrate our independence from the virus.”