A game-changer today from the Centers for Disease Control as the agency announces that the time has come to ease up on masks. The CDC is essentially lifting all mask restrictions for those who have been vaccinated (with a few exceptions). In a statement, the CDC wrote:

“The science is clear: If you are fully vaccinated, you are protected, and you can start doing the things that you stopped doing because of the pandemic.”

The CDC has been criticized for not changing this guidance earlier as millions of Americans received their vaccinations. Just last night, CNN’s Chris Cuomo pressed CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky on why the organization has been so cautious saying, “You need to be more generous in what people can do once they get vaccinated.” There has been criticism that some people were still hesitant to get the vaccine because there wasn’t enough of an incentive to get it. The idea is, knowing you can remove the mask IF vaccinated, more people would get the vaccine. Now Dr. Walensky says the time has come to send that message loud and clear, “Once you are fully vaccinated, two weeks after your last dose, you can shed your mask.” The AP reports:

The new guidance will still call for wearing masks in crowded indoor settings like buses, planes, hospitals, prisons and homeless shelters, but could ease restrictions for reopening workplaces and schools.

It will also no longer recommend that fully vaccinated people wear masks outdoors in crowds. The announcement comes as the CDC and the Biden administration have faced pressure to ease restrictions on fully vaccinated people — people who are two weeks past their last required COVID-19 vaccine dose — in part to highlight the benefits of getting the shot.

The New York Times adds:

The new advice comes with caveats. Even vaccinated individuals must cover their faces and physically distance when going to doctors, hospitals or long-term care facilities like nursing homes; when traveling by bus, plane, train or other modes of public transportation, or while in transportation hubs like airports and bus stations; and when in prisons, jails or homeless shelters.

Questions continue over whether businesses will, in any way, enforce mask use still for those who haven’t been vaccinated.