Finish line in sight

After a year of masks and social distancing, the CDC has fantastic news with its new guidelines. The government body just updated its suggested rules, and now we’re more eager than ever.

People who are fully vaccinated will be able to meet sans masks. Hallelujah. Reuters has more:

“People who have been fully vaccinated against covid-19 can meet without masks indoors in small groups with others who have been inoculated but should avoid nonessential travel and continue to wear face coverings in public. In a long-awaited update of its guidance for behaviors to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, the CDC said fully vaccinated people could also meet in small groups with unvaccinated individuals deemed at low-risk for severe covid-19 from one other household without masks.”

Can you imagine? Being able to meet someone in private face-to-face without a piece of fabric over your mouth? This is welcome news.

Of course, there are limits.

Don’t throw your masks into the burn pile yet. If you’re in public, it doesn’t matter if you’ve been vaccinated. Case numbers are still too high for you to forgo your mask around others.

But if you’ve got friends who are fully vaccinated and want to have them over for dinner, go for it, the CDC said. And you don’t have to dine outside, 6 feet away from each other. (Though with this weather we’ve been having, an outside crawfish boil sounds tempting.)

The majority of folks still aren’t vaccinated, but for those who are on the fence, this should hopefully tip them toward getting their shots.

Being able to meet in private without masks is a powerful motivator.