Mask Off: Dr. Fauci Says CDC Guidance on Indoor Mask Wearing Will Loosen as More People Get Vaccinated

I’ve been all about masks during the pandemic. Honestly, wearing my mask and glasses is the closest thing I’ll ever have to a secret identity, so I’ve had some fun with it. That said, now that I’m fully vaccinated and back to doing hoodrat shit with my friends (within reason, of course), I’m looking forward to when I’ll be able to see a movie without having to repeatedly pull down my mask to snack on some Sour Patch Kids. Thankfully, guidance from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on indoor mask wearing may soon loosen up as more people are vaccinated.

According to AJC, Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden, said on Sunday that “we do need to start being more liberal” when it comes to indoor mask requirements as vaccinations continue to rise. Fauci did note that as America is averaging 43,000 new covid cases daily, those numbers would need to get “much, much lower” before we can completely get to a new normal.

Fauci’s comments came in response to comments made last week by Dr. Scott Gottlieb, the former head of the Food and Drug Administration. Gottlieb argued on CNBC that mask mandates should begin to be loosened, “especially in environments where you know you have a high level of vaccination,” as that would give public health officials more credibility to reinstate them should there be another surge of the virus during the fall or winter.

When asked on Sunday by George Stephanopoulos, host of ABC’s This Week, whether he agreed with Gottlieb’s assessment, Fauci responded, “I think so, and I think you’re going to probably be seeing that as we go along, and as more people get vaccinated.”

“The CDC will be, almost in real time, George, updating their recommendations and their guidelines,” Fauci added. “But, yes, we do need to start being more liberal as we get more people vaccinated.”

According to the CDC, so far 45 percent of the U.S. population has received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine, with 32.8 percent of the population being fully vaccinated. If you haven’t gotten vaccinated yet, no worries, you can use this nifty government tool to schedule an appointment so that you too can get back to doing reasonable hoodrat shit with your people.