Indoor face masks are optional – that means for vaccinated people

The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) guidelines are confusing. With new updates released every few days, it’s difficult to keep track of the rules you should follow, which vary by vaccination, state, and company.

According to the latest CDC guidelines, once you are vaccinated you no longer need to wear face masks. Almost.

Photo by Gabriella Clare Marino via Unsplash

Infectious disease experts emphasize the importance of each person’s individual level of risk and comfort, as well as the state of infection in their community. If a person is young, vaccinated, has no underlying health problems, and lives in an area with low transmission, they are better off than someone who is at high risk and lives in a place that has a lot of COVID-19 infections gives .

Here are some guidelines for wearing masks indoors. If you have not been vaccinated, it is best to hold on to your mask for a while:

Gyms

Photo by Humphrey Muleba

Once you are vaccinated, you are very unlikely to spread COVID-19. However, whether you wear a mask depends on the gym itself. To help keep staff and customers safe and to avoid problems with vaccination cards verification, some gyms may ask people to wear their masks indoors.

Indoor restaurants and bars

Photo from rawpixel.com

RELATED: Is The COVID-19 Vaccine Safe For Children? You should know that

While you should still be polite when entering and exiting a restaurant (maybe even when using the bathroom), you should be fine without a mask. You should still be careful with unvaccinated or partially vaccinated people, as they are exposed to greater risks and it is impossible to know whether their servers, neighbors etc. are vaccinated.

job

Photo by Marvin Meyer via Unsplash

As with most indoor situations, it comes down to your colleagues. If everyone is vaccinated, that’s not a problem. However, dealing with this is difficult and requires a lot of planning and sincerity from employers and employees. Some experts suggest segregating employees based on their vaccination status so that vaccinated people can go back to work and non-vaccinated people can work from home.

Parties

Photo courtesy of Cannaclusive / Flickr

RELATED: Can COVID-19 Vaccines Be Mixed? UK study has answer

Whether the congregation is large or small, if you are vaccinated you should be fine. Unvaccinated individuals who pose a risk to others should wear their masks if the crowd is large. When the majority of the people are vaccinated, the risk for the party of dissolving into a superspreader event should be much lower.

Venues

Photo via pxhere.com

RELATED: Concerts That Are Making a Comeback in 2021 but Not Smoking the Weed

Despite the fact that venues like theaters result in people standing in the same place for long periods of time, vaccinated people should be able to go without masks. Still, you should follow your state’s guidelines. The bigger theme here is concerts as people tend to sing and stand or sit together. It’s okay not to wear a mask, especially if you’re low-risk and young and vaccinated. Even if vaccinated people get COVID-19, the chances of developing a serious infection are very small.