What to make of CDC's new masking guidelines

Show Me the Science

After recently announcing that vaccinated people could safely take off their masks outdoors and gather in small groups with other vaccinated people indoors, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) next decided that vaccinated people no longer need to wear masks indoors either. The new guidelines caught many by surprise, but William G. Powderly, MD, the Larry J. Shapiro Director of the Institute for Public Health and co-director of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, says the new guidelines provide evidence that, for many vaccinated individuals, going without a mask indoors is safe. He says vaccines against the virus are very effective and that although they don’t provide 100% protection, they come pretty close. But Powderly, also director of the university’s Institute of Clinical and Translational Sciences, says people need to remain aware that the pandemic is far from over, that the virus may fight back, and that the CDC may need to change its recommendations again at some point. For now, though, most vaccinated people are fairly safe without masks, he says. On the Washington University Medical Campus, masks still will be required in public areas in hospitals and in clinical areas.

The podcast, “Show Me the Science,” is produced by the Office of Medical Public Affairs at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.