CDC Eases Indoor Mask Guidelines; CT To Follow Suit On May 19

CONNECTICUT — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday announced it has eased indoor mask-wearing and social distancing guidance for fully vaccinated people, but Connecticut is not quite there yet.

Gov. Ned Lamont said he would not be relaxing Connecticut's coronavirus mitigation mandates which includes wearing a mask indoors until May 19.

Fully vaccinated people will no longer need to wear a face mask or stay six feet away from others in most indoor settings in Connecticut as of May 19. The mask mandate for schools will remain in effect through the end of the school year, Lamont said.

The mask-wearing guidance remains in place for unvaccinated people, as they are still at risk of mild or severe illness, death and risk spreading the disease to others, according to the CDC. The revised guidance is also not intended for health care settings, or crowded spaces such as prisons, buses, planes and homeless shelters.

Businesses may still require patrons to wear masks, Lamont said during a news conference Thursday. "That's their prerogative."

Read: Should CT Children Get The Coronavirus Vaccine? Take The Survey

"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 during the briefing. "If you are fully vaccinated, you can start doing the things that you had stopped doing because of the pandemic."

The White House wasted little time jumping on board the mask-less train Thursday afternoon on Twitter:

Walensky said there is a chance the agency could change its guidance again if the pandemic worsens or additional variants emerge.

Last month, Lamont again followed CDC guidance when he eased restrictions on mask-wearing for the vaccinated outside, if they were not in a big crowd with strangers. Masks also became optional for anyone outdoors when they walked, biked or ran alone or with members of their household. But at that time the governor said it was likely the mask mandate would remain in place until herd immunity was achieved.

Experts have continued to debate what exactly constitutes herd immunity, and it's been a moving target. Estimates are generally in the range of 70 to 90 percent of immunity through vaccinations or infections, according to USA Today. What is known is that the more people are vaccinated, the better. The vaccination race is one that Connecticut has been winning, being second in the nation behind only Vermont in total vaccine doses per capita administered, according to the CDC.

Lamont issued an executive order in April 2020 mandating the use of masks when social distancing was impossible. Back then, residents were advised to mask-up with bandanas or t-shirts, and reserve the rare but now-ubiquitous surgical masks for those in the health care field.

As schools opened up and coronavirus infection in the state began to spike, the state empowered local law enforcement agencies to issue $100 fines for violating the mask order. Compliance with the mandate among residents in the state was considered "high" then, at around 87 percent.