President Joe Biden’s administration took its biggest step yet toward declaring victory over the coronavirus pandemic—announcing that fully vaccinated Americans can ditch their masks in most settings, even indoors or in large groups.
The guidance shift Thursday is a pivotal turning point in the fight against Covid-19 and comes as U.S. caseloads fall and vaccinations rise. It signals a broad return to everyday life, and is also a bet that any surge in spread from relaxed guidelines won’t be enough to reverse progress in inoculations.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced the change while citing growing evidence that vaccines are effective against variants and outside of clinical trials, and fully vaccinated people are at low risk to spread the virus to someone else.
“Anyone who is fully vaccinated can participate in indoor or outdoor activities, large or small, without wearing a mask or physical distancing,” said CDC Director Rochelle Walensky. “If you are fully vaccinated, you can start doing the things that you had stopped doing because of the pandemic. We have all longed for this moment when we can get back to some sense of normalcy.”
The CDC guidance spelled out ample exceptions, however, that signal that the era of masks isn’t over yet. The agency still recommends fully vaccinated people wear masks on “all planes, buses, trains and other forms of public transportation,” as well as in all health care settings, correctional facilities, homeless shelters, and where required by state and local governments, or businesses.
And masks are still recommended for people who are only partially vaccinated—those who’ve not yet waited two weeks from their final dose—or who haven’t gotten a vaccine. The announcement was first reported by the Associated Press.
‘Free At Last’
Even with the exceptions, the announcement represents a watershed moment. Only six weeks ago, Walensky had warned of “impending doom” as cases, hospitalizations and deaths rose. Thursday’s guidance was met in Washington with sighs of relief, as lawmakers in Congress and staff at the White House almost immediately dropped their masks. “Free at last,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said.
About 59% of American adults have received at least one shot, while 45% have received both. The Covid-19 vaccine made by Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE was cleared for use in children ages 12 to 15 years old this week, fueling the inoculation campaign. New daily Covid-19 cases, meanwhile, have been declining for weeks. Still, the pace of vaccinations has slowed from highs of a month ago, raising concerns about whether hesitancy will impede widespread protection in the population.
Biden has set a goal of 70% of adult Americans receiving at least one vaccine shot by July 4, another symbolic milestone. Biden has said he hopes the country will be able to mark its annual Independence Day holiday by ridding itself of the virus.
Still, even as the situation in the U.S. improves, the pandemic is raging in other vaccine-starved nations. Biden faces growing calls to share U.S. vaccine supply as the virus explodes in India, Brazil and other countries. The U.S. administration has claimed nearly every dose made on U.S. soil so far, though says it will soon share 60 million AstraZeneca doses with other nations.