The announcement millions of people have been waiting for has finally arrived. The CDC said Thursday that fully vaccinated people no longer need to wear a face mask or social distance in most settings both indoors and outdoors. 

Of course they listed a number of exceptions where it still is required, but for healthy people who got the shot they are free to move about the country without a cloth rag covering their face. 

Here’s the official word from CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky. “Anyone who is fully vaccinated can participate in indoor and outdoor activities, large or small, without wearing a mask or physical distancing.

“f you are fully vaccinated, you can start doing the things that you had stopped doing because of the pandemic. We have all longed for this moment, when we can get back to some sense of normalcy.”

For people that have not been vaccinated, the CDC suggests they continue to wear masks. 

And this is the CDC we’re talking about here, so they tempered the good news with a downer of sorts, as Walensky said if things change or worsen because of variants the masks are coming back, but consider May 13 to be a milestone day in the fight against the pandemic. 

“This is an exciting and powerful moment, it could only happen because of the work of so many who made sure we have the rapid administration of three safe and effective vaccines,” Walensky said. 

Here’s the numbers as of Wednesday. More than 151 million Americans over age 18 have received at least one dose of Covid vaccine. That’s almost 60% of the country. 

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