U.S. CDC unveils new mask guidance for fully vaccinated Americans

People tour the Nation Mall near the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington, D.C., the United States, on April 27, 2021. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) unveiled new guidelines for fully vaccinated Americans on Tuesday, including activities they can safely resume without wearing masks. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)

WASHINGTON, April 27 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) unveiled new guidelines for fully vaccinated Americans on Tuesday, including activities they can safely resume without wearing masks.

Fully vaccinated people can participate in outdoor activities and recreation without a face covering, the CDC said.

They can also meet outdoors with a small group of other fully vaccinated people, or a mixture of fully vaccinated and unvaccinated people, according to the new guidance.

Dining unmasked at an outdoor restaurant with friends from multiple households is also acceptable, said the CDC.

Fully vaccinated people do not need to get tested before or after travel in the United States or self-quarantine after travel.

Moreover, Fully vaccinated people can refrain from testing before leaving the United States for international travel and refrain from self-quarantine after arriving back in the United States, according to the CDC.

The CDC defined "fully vaccinated" people as two weeks after receiving the second dose in Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna COVID-19 shots, or two weeks after receiving the single-dose Johnson and Johnson shot.

"Today is another day we can take a step back to the normalcy of before," said CDC Director Rochelle Walensky at a briefing.

The new guidelines also urged the continued use of masks in most indoor settings and in crowded outdoor settings. The CDC asks fully vaccinated people to avoid indoor large gatherings.

"The benefits of reducing social isolation and relaxing some measures such as quarantine requirements may outweigh the residual risk of fully vaccinated people becoming ill with COVID-19 or transmitting SARS-CoV-2 to others," said the CDC.

Taking steps towards relaxing certain measures for vaccinated persons may help improve COVID-19 vaccine acceptance and uptake, said the agency.

About 232 million COVID-19 vaccine shots have been administered across the country as of Tuesday, while more than 297 million COVID-19 vaccine doses have been distributed, CDC data showed.

Currently, there are over 96 million Americans fully vaccinated, accounting for 29.1 percent of the U.S. population, according to CDC data.

At a White House briefing, U.S. President Joe Biden asked all Americans to "go get the shot" now.

He said the country has achieved "stunning progress," but "long way to go" in pandemic fight.