Vaccinated Americans now may go without masks in most places, the C.D.C. says.

Authored by nytimes.com and submitted by Brock_No_StOP
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Federal health officials on Thursday advised Americans who are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus that they could stop wearing masks or maintaining social distance in most settings, the clearest sign yet that the pandemic might be nearing an end in the United States.

The new recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention caught state officials and businesses by surprise and raised a host of difficult questions about how the guidelines would be carried out. But the advice came as welcome news to many Americans who were weary of restrictions and traumatized by the past year.

“We have all longed for this moment,” Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky, the C.D.C. director, said at a White House news conference on Thursday. “If you are fully vaccinated, you can start doing the things that you had stopped doing because of the pandemic.”

Masks had come to symbolize a bitter partisan divide. Setting them aside in restaurants and sidewalks, in museums and shops, would represent not just the beginning of the end of the pandemic but hope for a return to normalcy.

frannie_jo on May 13rd, 2021 at 20:18 UTC »

My work just sent an email that we still wear them until OSHA gives the ok, maybe next week.

wildcardyeehaw on May 13rd, 2021 at 19:02 UTC »

ready to raw dog the world

Oleg101 on May 13rd, 2021 at 18:59 UTC »

(Side note to this)

The White House has lifted the mask mandate for fully vaccinated staff on campus

https://twitter.com/phil_mattingly/status/1392916567869083648?s=21

Edit: that includes reporters / correspondents