By Akshay Syal - NBC News
Masks offer protection against the coronavirus, but now that more than 84 million people in the United States have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, there are growing questions about whether they still need to be used outdoors.
The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) told NBC News on Thursday that
the agency is considering revising its recommendations.
"We will look at the question of wearing face masks outdoors, but we will also take into account as context the fact that we still have people dying from COVID-19," said Rochelle Walensky.
In states where mask-wearing orders are still in effect, actions are already underway to relax outdoor restrictions.
[Plan your vaccination: find out with our tool where to get vaccinated close to home]
For example,
North Carolina
Governor
Roy Cooper hopes to lift restrictions by June 1, including a mandate to wear face masks outdoors.
Mayor of the City of
New York
, Bill de Blasio is also considering changing for June guidance on the use of masks outdoors.
Connecticut will also
suspend the requirement to wear them outdoors by mid-May, while making the mandate to use face shields indoors a recommendation.
More than 86.2 million people in the US are already immunized against COVID-19
April 22, 202100: 19
Some health experts are increasingly calling for restrictions on the use of face masks for outdoor activities to be eased.
"We know that the virus spreads largely indoors and there is very little transmission outdoors except in some very specific circumstances," said Doc Ashish Jha, dean of the School of Public Health at Brown University.
"At this point in the pandemic, with more than half of Americans vaccinated, it
is quite reasonable to start thinking about withdrawing orders to wear face masks outdoors," he
added.
Masks are a must during outdoor large group gatherings where people are together for an extended period of time, such as sporting events in crowded stadiums, he said.
But passing someone on the street or going for a run without a mask are very low-risk scenarios.
"It's probably not necessary to require everyone walking down the street to wear one," Jha said.
An article published in the scientific journal
The Journal of Infectious Diseases
by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco found that less than 10% of COVID-19 infections occur outdoors, and that
the chances of spreading the virus indoors they are 19 times bigger.
However, experts from Northwestern University argue that keeping the face masks outdoors, even after receiving the vaccine, is not only an act of "social courtesy" but also helps to "model the behavior" of children, which they are not yet eligible to get vaccinated.
Arizona joins the list of states that eliminated the mandatory use of the mask
March 26, 202100: 23
According to current CDC guidelines, "Masks may not be necessary when the person is outdoors alone, away from other people, or with people living in the home."
Health experts hope the CDC will more clearly describe high-risk situations where face shields actually need to be worn.
Kristin Nelson, a professor of epidemiology at Emory University, said that while the orders to wear masks outdoors have been reasonable thus far, she would like them to be one of the first restrictions to be lifted as more people get vaccinated and cases begin to decline.
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"I think those massive mandates for outdoor spaces should probably be the first to go away," he said, "we really need to focus on places where we know there is a high risk of transmission, like large gatherings and confined spaces with poor ventilation." .
Focusing on the importance of wearing protection indoors and helping people understand when it is safe to remove a mask can actually make people more compliant, Jha said.
In communities where transmission of the coronavirus is low, it may not be necessary to wear the mask outdoors, say some health experts.
"So we can really emphasize where it's not safe and get people [to wear their mask]," he added.
The community transmission rate is an important factor when it comes to relaxing the rules.
In places where this rate is lower, it might be an appropriate time to start raising the requirements.
Anne Rimoin, a professor of epidemiology at the University of California, Los Angeles, warned that it is not advisable to establish strict rules to lift the mandates, and that these should be subject to new scientific data that continues to emerge.
"If the person is vaccinated and there are low rates of transmission in the community, it is definitely reasonable not to worry about wearing a mask [outdoors]," he said.
But
when there is a crowded situation, even outdoors, it is safer to keep the mask on
, he concluded.
