New CDC guidelines say vaccinated Americans can now ditch the masks, with a few exceptions: Live COVID-19 updates

Fully vaccinated Americans can discard masks and the need for social distancing outdoors and in most indoors settings, the CDC said Thursday in a dramatic announcement after months of mostly cautious measures.

The new guidelines announced by Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, represent a major step toward a return to normalcy for a nation battered and at times divided by a pandemic that has lasted more than a year.

"Anyone who is fully vaccinated can participate in indoor and outdoor activities, large or small, without wearing a mask or physical distancing,'' Walensky said. "If you are fully vaccinated, you can start doing the things that you had stopped doing because of the pandemic.''

A person is considered fully vaccinated against the coronavirus two weeks after getting the second Pfizer or Moderna shot or the same length of time after receiving the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine. 

The new guidance still calls for wearing masks in crowded indoor settings such as buses, planes, hospitals, prisons and homeless shelters but could ease restrictions for reopening workplaces and schools. In addition, the agency will no longer recommend that fully vaccinated people wear masks outdoors in crowds, possibly allowing for bigger capacities at sporting events.

"Today is a great day for America in our long battle with the coronavirus,'' President Joe Biden said in the Rose Garden after the CDC’s announcement. "It think it's a great milestone.''

Biden was meeting with GOP senators in the Oval Office when the CDC issued the new guidance and told his guests they could ditch their masks, according to Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo.

“The president said let’s just take them off, right here, in the meeting,” Blunt told reporters.

Masks mandates got politicized under former President Donald Trump, who usually eschewed face coverings and mocked those who had them, and they became a source of discord in parts of the country.

The new recommendations from the CDC could also serve as an incentive for the tens of millions of eligible Americans who have not been vaccinated against COVID-19 to get their shots. Though more than 46% of the U.S. population of 330 million has received at least one vaccine dose, polls have shown about 25% don’t intend to get inoculated.

Coronavirus cases in the U.S. are at their lowest rate since September and deaths are at their lowest point since April 2020, averaging about 600 a day, but some experts still worry that the emergence of variants could disrupt that momentum and create another surge, especially as the virus continues to rage in other parts of the world.

Biden’s administration had been under pressure to loosen pandemic restrictions as more Americans got vaccinated and infections diminished across most of the country.

Dr. Jay Wolfson, a public health expert at the University of South Florida, said the CDC had lost a great “a great deal of credibility” in the public’s perception in part because its cautious guidance often lagged behind the “pragmatic realities” of the pandemic.

Contributing: Joel Shannon, Maureen Groppe

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Also in the news:

►Youths 12 and up across most of the nation started to get widely vaccinated a day after the CDC cleared the Pfizer vaccine for the 12-15 age group.

►Prince Harry called out comedian Joe Rogan for suggesting on "The Joe Rogan Experience" podcast that young, healthy adults need not get vaccinated. "You’ve got to be careful about what comes out of your mouth,” the British prince said on the "Armchair Expert" podcast that was released Thursday

►McDonald’s is raising hourly pay by an average of 10% at 650 company-owned stores in the U.S. It's part of its push to hire thousands of new workers amid an easing pandemic and economic boom.

►India reported more than 4,000 coronavirus deaths for the second day in a row amid concerns that many more rural deaths are going unreported.

►Caesars Entertainment announced that its nine casinos have been cleared for 100% capacity in Las Vegas amid easing of coronavirus restrictions.