Fully vaccinated can drop masks, skip social distancing in step to normalcy

WASHINGTON, D.C.: In a major step toward returning to pre-pandemic life, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has eased mask-wearing guidance for fully vaccinated people, allowing them to stop wearing masks outdoors in crowds and in most indoor settings.

“Today is a great day for America,” President Joe Biden said Thursday during a Rose Garden address heralding the new guidance, an event where he and his staff went without masks. Hours earlier in the Oval Office, where Biden was meeting with vaccinated Republican lawmakers, he led the group in removing their masks when the guidance was announced.