When to wear a mask if you’ve been vaccinated
Face coverings are still recommended indoors or in crowds, but those who have gotten shots can do more outside.
Despite some early mixed messages, health officials have repeatedly told Americans that wearing a face mask — both indoors and outdoors — is essential to curbing the spread of the coronavirus.
But as COVID-19 slows dramatically and vaccinations increase, that advice is changing.
People who are now fully vaccinated for COVID-19 can safely stop wearing masks in many outdoor settings, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday.
Masks are still recommended for everyone while in crowded outdoor settings, such as packed stadiums and concerts, the CDC director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, said. But the sustained pace of vaccinations — with 37% of adults nationally fully vaccinated — followed by falling coronavirus case rates nationally meant it was time to relax guidance for when to wear masks for fully vaccinated people, Walensky said, including in outdoor social gatherings such as shared meals.
Unvaccinated people should still wear masks, and keep at least six feet away from others. “We really do want people who are unvaccinated to limit the interaction with people,” Walensky said.
The new announcement eases a mask standard introduced just last month. In March, the CDC said that vaccinated people should keep their masks on if meeting with unvaccinated people from more than one household.
Gov. Gavin Newsom said California would align with the CDC’s new guidance, which he called “common sense.” California’s most recent mask order, last updated in November as the state’s deadliest COVID-19 surge began and before any vaccines had been authorized, mandated that a mask generally be worn at all times when outside the home, with exceptions, such as being outdoors and maintaining six feet of distance from other people. Here are key points: