CDC Says No Indoor Masks For Fully Vaccinated: How It Affects NYC

New York City NY

13 May, 2021

4:18 PM

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NEW YORK CITY — Normalcy has returned bit by bit for months in New York City as vaccinations took hold. But just how long face-coverings would be required remained perhaps the biggest obstacle to a return to pre-pandemic life. That could change after Thursday with new guidance from the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention. Federal health officials declared that fully vaccinated people could go into most environments regardless of crowd size without a face-covering or without social distancing. The guidance does come with a few caveats. CDC officials said that people will still need to wear face-coverings when traveling on airplanes, buses, trains and on public transportation. Fully vaccinated people will also still need to keep their faces covered in hospitals and long-term care facilities, officials announced. "We have all longed for this moment when we can get back to some sense of normalcy," Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the CDC, said Thursday in a White House COVID-19 briefing. As of Wednesday, more than 7.9 million New Yorkers have been fully vaccinated, according to the New York City Department of Health. The total represents about 40.8 percent of the city's population while just more than 50 percent of residents have received at least one dose of the vaccines. Walensky announced that fully vaccinated people can "shed their mask" two weeks after they get their second shot. Thursday evening, Mayor Bill de Blasio said the city was "reviewing the guidance," saying masks would "still be important for schools, public transportation, healthcare and congregate settings and more." "But the message is clear: vaccinations are the way to bring our city, our lives, back," he said. Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who has based much of his reopening plans on CDC guidance, likewise said the state was reviewing the guidance and did not announce any policy changes. De Blasio and Cuomo have generally been wary about lifting restrictions in the city, given its position as an epicenter in the pandemic's early days and increased density. Earlier on Thursday, Cuomo praised the fact that the state had dropped to a 1 percent positivity rate, the lowest since Oct. 10. "All of the arrows are in the right direction," Cuomo said Thursday morning. "And we're working very, very hard to keep it that way. People want to say, 'well, COVID is over, COVID is done….It's not over, we're making progress, but it's not done. We have more to get done." The guidance itself doesn't appear to pave the way for New Yorkers to, say, take their masks off on subways and buses. But it could mean the city's school children don't need to wear masks when in classrooms.