CDC Defends Lifting the Mask Requirement, Says Only Unvaccinated People Are at Risk Without Them
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Chip Somodevilla/Getty Dr. Rochelle Walensky
The director of the Centers for Disease Control and top health experts spent the weekend defending the agency's decision to lift mask requirements for fully vaccinated people, emphasizing that only unvaccinated people are at risk without a mask.
Amid concerns that unvaccinated people would abuse the new mask recommendations and worries that it was too early for Americans to start going without them, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said that fully vaccinated people are at a very low risk of COVID-19 infection.
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"If you are vaccinated, we are saying you are safe, you can take up your mask and you are not at risk of severe disease or hospitalization from COVID-19," she told Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace. "If you are not vaccinated, you are not safe. Please go get vaccinated or continue to wear your mask."
The CDC was criticized after recommending on Thursday that fully vaccinated people can go without masks outdoors and in most indoor settings, with people suggesting that the federal health agency made the surprising change after political pressure. But Walensky emphasized that new data on the effectiveness of the vaccines led to their decision.
Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty People with and without masks walk around Central Park in New York City
"It certainly would've been easier if the science had evolved a week earlier, and I didn't have to go to Congress making those statements," Walensky said, referencing her testimony a few days earlier in front of the Senate Health Committee, where Republicans argued against the CDC's then-strict mask guidance.
"I delivered it as soon as I can, when we have that information available," she said.
Walensky was also questioned about the potential risks the new mask guidance poses to grocery store workers who now could be exposed to unvaccinated people who refuse to wear a mask, as Walmart, Costco and Trader Joe's all lifted their mask requirements.
"Probably the most important thing that businesses could do right now … is to work to ensure that it's easy for their own employees to get vaccinated," she said on Meet the Press.
RELATED VIDEO: Vaccinated Americans Can Now Go Without Masks in Most Indoor and Outdoor Places, CDC Says
As of May 17, well over half, or 56.1% of eligible Americans, those aged 12 and up, have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. And 43.9%, or nearly 123 million of eligible Americans, are now fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to the CDC.
New COVID-19 cases in the U.S. are also on a steep decline, with the country seeing an average of just over 33,000 infections a day, a number that has dropped by 33% over the last two weeks, according to The New York Times. All 50 states are now seeing a decline in cases as more Americans get vaccinated.
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