CDC to Further Ease Requirements on Mask-Wearing for Fully Vaccinated People

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is set to announce later today (May 13) that those who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 will be able to safely stop wearing a mask in most places... and that includes both indoor and outdoor settings.

Per multiple outlets including The Associated Press (AP), Fox News and NBC News, there will be some exceptions for the new guidance like still being advised to wear masks in crowded indoor areas including hospitals, planes, buses, homeless shelters and prisons. However, restrictions are expected to be lifted on areas like schools and office areas.

Additionally, AP notes, "The CDC will also no longer recommend that fully vaccinated people wear masks outdoors in crowds."

This update comes about two weeks after the CDC advised that those who are fully vaccinated do not need to wear a mask outdoors unless they are in a large crowd of people. At that time, the CDC listed a number of activities fully vaccinated people could do safely without wearing a mask. They included the following:

-Walk, run, or bike outdoors with members of your household.
-Attend a small outdoor gathering with fully vaccinated family and friends.
-Attend a small outdoor gathering with fully vaccinated and unvaccinated people.
-Dine at an outdoor restaurant with friends from multiple households.

The CDC defines being fully vaccinated as "2 weeks after their second dose in a 2-dose series, such as the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, or 2 weeks after a single-dose vaccine, such as Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen vaccine."