Massachusetts

New CDC Guidance Encourages Health Experts, But Not All Vaccinated People Are Ready to Ditch Masks

People in Massachusetts are reacting to new guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that fully vaccinated people no longer need to wear masks in most indoor settings

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's recommendation that fully vaccinated people do not need to wear masks in most indoor settings still comes a little too soon for some Massachusetts residents.

Some say they will have to get used to the idea of being maskless inside with other people.

"I think it would be tough for me to think about being indoors anywhere but home without the mask," said Stephanie Downey Toledo.

The CDC now says it is safe for fully vaccinated people to remove their masks in most indoor settings.

"What if you're not vaccinated and I am?" said another resident. "I don't trust it."

For now, Massachusetts is not changing its mask order, but Gov. Charlie Baker's office said Thursday that state restrictions would be updated "in the near future."

Dr. Michael Misialek of Newton-Wellsley Hospital says this move may actually encourage more people to get vaccinated, explaining that it's a "move in the right direction."

He says it means we're turning the corner with this pandemic.

"I think it's going to come down to local and state officials, governments trying to figure out how to enforce this," Misialek said.

Dr. Shira Doron, an epidemiologist at Tufts Medical Center, says we've reached a point where enough people are vaccinated nationwide that infections are plummeting.

She says if you are fully vaccinated and enter a space where people are unvaccinated, you're still protected.

Doron also believes adults being vaccinated has eliminated infections in kids and believes in the fall, all kids could be unmasked in school.

"When we vaccinate the adults and teens, that doesn't leave a situation where the infection is still running wild in the younger population," Doron said. "Vaccinating adults protects the younger population."

CDC guidance says vaccinated people may still have to wear masks in places like hospitals, buses and planes.

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