If you are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, you can now go out without a mask.
On May 13, 2021, the U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that fully vaccinated people no longer need to wear a mask or physically distance in any setting, except airports and healthcare establishments.
“Anyone who is fully vaccinated can participate in indoor and outdoor activities, large or small, without wearing a mask or physical distancing,” CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said. “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 says about 37% of the U.S population is fully vaccinated and close to half of the population has received at least one shot. Those numbers are expected to increase after the U.S Food and Drug Administration expanded the emergency use authorization for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for adolescents 12 through 15 years of age.