To Mask or not to Mask?
To mask or not to mask — that is the question! The new CDC guidelines released May 13 stating that anyone fully vaccinated no longer needs to wear a mask in most settings has led to a lot of confusion about wearing masks and social distancing. When I am out in public, regardless of whether I am indoors or outdoors, wearing a mask or not, I get glares from various people. Everyone seems to be sure that they are following the correct guidelines and it feels like they feel that I am doing the wrong thing. The one guarantee is that my mask wearing (or lack thereof) is going to really annoy someone else. Or maybe everyone is just equally confused?
What are the new CDC guidelines?
Fully vaccinated people can now be mask-free in public, indoors and outdoors, without concern for social distancing except when federal, state, local, tribal, or territorial laws, rules, and regulations, including local business and workplace guidance say you should wear a mask. Maine will update their guidelines to follow the federal guidelines starting on May 24, 2021.
Everyone — whether vaccinated or not vaccinated — can be outside without a mask, unless they are in a crowd of strangers.
Children under 12 must remain masked per prior guidelines.
Schools, camps and daycare must continue to comply with prior guidelines regarding full mask wearing, and social distancing of three feet.
What do the new CDC guidelines mean for families with children under age 12? The new guidelines do seem to support the adage “Do what I say and not as I do.” The guidelines would allow a family to go indoors with the children masked, and parents without masks.
Practically speaking, if you have children, I would advise that everyone continue to wear a mask indoors. Parents are then setting an example for their children and continuing to enforce that COVID is a potentially deadly disease, to be taken seriously. I would also advise that it is reasonable to be outside in large, uncrowded public spaces with everyone unmasked — adults and children.
Dr. Monica Gandhi who is a MD/MPH is an Infectious Disease and HIV physician at the University of California, San Francisco. She frequently tweets links to articles about COVID-19 risk during outdoor exposures. In the last week, she has tweeted a study from Ireland* — showing that 0.1% of all cases in Ireland were traced to outdoor exposures. She posted results of a study of contact tracing of over 7,000 individuals in Wuhan, China — only one individual in that study became sick from an outdoor source.** She also posted a link to a study modeling risks of COVID illness based on exposures in different environments.*** This last study found that the risk of becoming ill outdoors was none to very low risk. The take away point is that outdoor transmission risks are extremely low, regardless of masking status.
In summation, my current advice for families with children under 12 are: Set an example — mask inside. Outside — encourage everyone to enjoy the fresh air, without a mask — as long as you aren’t in a crowded area.
**https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ina.12766
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.10.03.20206110v6.full
