CDC removes mask mandate for fully vaccinated people
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued updated guidance that fully vaccinated people no longer need to wear a mask or physically distance in any setting, except where required by federal, state, local, tribal, or territorial laws, rules, and regulations, including local business and workplace guidance.
The guidance continued:
Fully vaccinated people can refrain from testing following a known exposure unless they are residents or employees of a correctional or detention facility or a homeless shelter.
If people are fully vaccinated, they can start doing many things that they had stopped doing because of the pandemic.
· Resume activities without wearing masks or physically distancing, except where required by federal, state, local, tribal, or territorial laws, rules and regulations, including local business and workplace guidance
· Resume domestic travel and refrain from testing before or after travel or self-quarantine after travel
· Refrain from testing before leaving the United States for international travel (unless required by the destination) and refrain from self-quarantine after arriving back in the United States
· Refrain from testing following a known exposure, if asymptomatic, with some exceptions for specific settings
· Refrain from quarantine following a known exposure if asymptomatic
· Refrain from routine screening testing if feasible
For now, fully vaccinated people should continue to:
· Get tested if experiencing COVID-19 symptoms
· Follow CDC and health department travel requirements and recommendations
Currently authorized vaccines in the US are highly effective at protecting vaccinated people against symptomatic and severe COVID-19. Additionally, a growing body of evidence suggests that fully vaccinated people are less likely to have asymptomatic infection or transmit SARS-CoV-2 to others. How long vaccine protection lasts and how much vaccines protect against emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants are still under investigation.
For the purposes of this guidance, people are considered fully vaccinated for COVID-19 ≥2 weeks after they have received the second dose in a 2-dose series (Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna), or ≥2 weeks after they have received a single-dose vaccine (Johnson and Johnson [J&J]/Janssen)±; there is currently no post-vaccination time limit on fully vaccinated status. Unvaccinated people refers to individuals of all ages, including children, that have not completed a vaccination series.