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CDC released a chart Thursday to explain the new mask guidance. - People who are two weeks past their second
COVID-19 vaccine (or single J&Jvaccine ) can go maskless. Masks are still required in many setting for people who are not fully vaccinated.
On Thursday, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said fully vaccinated people can forego masks in most settings, with a handful of exceptions.
The agency also released a chart to explain when you need a mask if you're fully vaccinated or not.
This is an updated version of the traffic-light-style chart the CDC released three weeks ago, when it relaxed rules for mask-wearing outdoors.
Now, the right-hand column (for fully vaccinated people) is green all the way down. People who have waited two weeks after both shots of a Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, or after a single Johnson & Johnson vaccine, can now do everything on the list without a mask, according to the CDC.
That means dining indoors, working out in a gym, singing in a choir, and going to a concert are all fine to do without masks and without physical distancing.
"Anyone who is fully vaccinated can participate in indoor or outdoor activities, large or small, without wearing a mask or physical distancing," CDC director Rochelle Walensky said. "If you are fully vaccinated, you can start doing the things that you had stopped doing because of the pandemic."
The left-hand column remains unchanged.
People are not yet fully vaccinated - those who have not received any vaccines, who have received one shot of a two-shot vaccine, or are within two weeks of their second shot - still need to wear a mask for many activities.
That means no unmasking at crowded events and keeping a mask on as much as possible when dining in a group, both indoors and outdoors.
Masks are also required for unvaccinated people in all indoor settings, even if there's physical distance, given evidence that the coronavirus can float far further than six feet inside.