Two weeks after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated its masking guidance to say that fully vaccinated Americans can largely ditch face coverings outdoors, the agency has further loosened its guidance by saying vaccinated people can also now return to unmasking in most indoor settings. But travelers eager to ditch their face mask on the plane will have to wait: The masking change does not apply to travel settings like airplanes and public transit, the agency was quick to say.
“Anyone who is fully vaccinated can participate in indoor and outdoor activities, large or small, without wearing a mask or physical distancing,” CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said Thursday at a White House press briefing, citing recent studies that have concluded COVID-19 vaccines used in the U.S. are effective at preventing severe illness and greatly decrease your risk of becoming infected and spreading the coronavirus. However, Walensky added: “For travel, we are still asking people to continue wearing their masks.”
It’s clear that masking for travel will be required by the United States government until at least the end of this summer. A federal order currently requiring masking while traveling on “airplanes, ships, ferries, trains, subways, buses, taxis, ride-shares,” as well as in airports and train stations, remains unchanged by the CDC update. The mandate was recently extended by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) until September 13, 2021.
Although vaccinated Americans can now travel domestically without quarantining or testing, and to a number of international destinations (with required testing to re-enter the U.S.), the CDC has said, masking guidance for transportation remains separate from general masking guidance. Travel guidance will be updated as more health data about vaccinated people emerges, Walensky said, and immunocompromised people who have been vaccinated should still talk to their doctor about the risks of unmasking in certain settings.
In general, check local rules about masking before you travel, as local jurisdictions can still require masking despite the new CDC guidance. States like Minnesota and Oregon have already lifted mask mandates in the wake of the change, yet some individual cities, like Indianapolis and Boston, have chosen to continue some mask requirements despite their states’ lifting of them. Other states, like Texas, had already lifted state-wide mask mandates in previous months, and saw some businesses opt to keep their own mask requirements in place.
If you’re confused, you’re not alone—it remains unclear when and how changes to masking for the vaccinated will take shape in settings like museums, hotels, and restaurants across the country; businesses will need to decide on their own course of action, including whether they will ask visitors for proof of vaccination or allow all visitors to unmask, which for unvaccinated people would be at their own risk. But experts say the move could be a step toward enjoying indoor travel experiences mask-free once again, at least for vaccinated people in the U.S.
“Getting vaccinated now makes your whole life much easier, especially if you’re traveling,” says Dr. David Freedman, an emeritus professor of infectious diseases at the University of Alabama at Birmingham who specializes in travel-focused health research. There’s likely going to be masks on planes for a long time because airlines are in favor of it, Freedman says, but for U.S. businesses like shops, theaters, and restaurants, masking is now moving toward becoming a choice, rather than a requirement, which Americans can make thanks to lowering cases of COVID-19.
“Vaccinated people are by and large protected, and if they’re very cautious they can choose to wear a mask where it’s not required, in case of the rare vaccinated person that may transmit the virus,” Freedman says, noting that studies have signaled in recent weeks that vaccinated people are unlikely to get sick with the virus, and have a reduced chance of spreading it asymptomatically.
Unvaccinated adults—and children under 12 who are not yet able to get vaccinated—are the wild cards, Freedman says, and will need to make a choice about the amount of risk they are willing to take.
Dr. Ashish Jha, the Dean of Brown University’s School of Public Health, says that certain settings will still require masking. He still expects masking for all at heavily crowded events, like concerts, both indoors and outdoors. But he also says that large outdoor events that are socially distanced, like sports events with assigned seats and limited capacities, are generally safe for the vaccinated to unmask and may now be more lenient.
When not in transit or in crowds, vaccinated Americans are now likely to have more opportunities to unmask than they have in over a year. The challenge for crowded indoor settings is potentially creating a system for determining whether or not people are vaccinated: Jha calls elbow-to-elbow settings like Broadway theaters, which are due to reopen this fall, potentially safe only if everyone in attendance is vaccinated, and in those scenarios it would make sense for those venues to require proof of vaccination in order to allow admission to an event.
“On the issue of mask enforcement, some businesses are talking about creating vaccinated-only spaces,” says Jha. “But the question will be what verification mechanism will we use?”
Biden administration officials said in March that they would leave vaccine passports up to the private sector and individual states. “It's true vaccinated people don't need to wear a mask but there's no way to enforce the difference,” says Jha, adding that public policy responses to align with the new guidance “should follow” in the next month or so as vaccination rates for children mount.
During the Thursday announcement CDC director Walensky said that the unvaccinated should continue to mask, and in general should get vaccinated in order to protect themselves and others. She also noted that children over age 12 are now eligible to get the Pfizer vaccine, and the CDC masking guidance can tighten at any time.
As for traveling with unvaccinated children under 12, Jha, who has a nine-year-old, says his family will travel only to places with low infection rates and high vaccination rates this summer, until they are all vaccinated. He notes that kids under 12 without underlying conditions are less likely to spread or get sick with COVID-19.
“This is an exciting and powerful moment. It could only happen because of the work of so many who made sure we had the rapid administration of three safe and effective vaccines,” Walensky said on Thursday. “It could also only happen because we have an adequate supply of those vaccines for everyone 12 years and older in this country. Your health and how soon you return to normal life before the pandemic are in your very capable hands.”