During the Covid pandemic, wearing a mask has been one of the simplest and most effective tools at our disposal to help keep us from getting sick. It has also, however, been in the news a lot lately.
In short, many people are wondering if they still need to wear their Covid masks outdoors.
For many of us, these masks have become a staple in our daily lives… a symbol of the pandemic and the fear that it has caused.
They’ve also become a symbol for our human desire to fight against disaster, and evidence our ability to work together to overcome adversity.
We wear them at work, at the gym, at the store, and even while grocery shopping or picking up our kids from school.
But as the pandemic is winding down, and as more and more people spend time outside, is it possible that the time has finally come to ditch the mask; especially if you’re going to be outdoors and not coming into especially close proximity to anyone?
Let’s dig in and look at the details.
Health Experts Are Saying That If You’re Vaccinated, You Don’t Need To Wear Your Mask Outdoors
According to a report published on CNN, the need to wear a mask is slowly decreasing.
This is especially true if you’ve been vaccinated.
According to the report, one doctor (Dr. Sanjay Gupta) said that if you’re vaccinated, you really don’t need a mask anymore.
Here was his exact quote (specifically referring to wearing a mask outdoors after you’ve been vaccinated).
“I’d say for the most part, you don’t need to wear a mask outdoors.”
What If You Haven’t Been Vaccinated? Do You Still Need To Wear A Mask?
If you haven’t been vaccinated, it might be a good idea to keep wearing your mask.
The reason for this is because not everyone has been vaccinated yet.
And if you haven’t been vaccinated yet, it’s important to keep yourself (and others) as safe as possible.
This is even more important for those who may be immunocompromised.
What Are The Benefits Of Wearing A Covid Mask Outdoors?
According to WebMD, when you wear a Covid mask outdoors, there is less of a chance that people will transmit the virus.
“Masks bring down the community viral load. There’s less getting out, and that means there is less for you to be exposed to.”
This quote, which was provided to WebMD by John Brooks, MD, a medical epidemiologist, makes it clear that wearing a mask is not only safer for others around you, but also for you.
If You’ve Been Vaccinated, You May Have The ‘All Clear’ To Start Spending Time Outdoors Without Your Mask On
For a more complete debriefing on the CDC guidelines for what you should and shouldn’t do after being fully vaccinated, check out this post.
But in any case, it seems that with more and more people getting immunized, life is slowly returning to normal.
The Covid 19 pandemic is slowly coming to an end. It has been a long and difficult fight, but the world seems to have finally found its way out of this current ‘slump’ and back to a greater sense of normalcy.
You should continue to take precautions so that you can’t catch Covid 19 before you’re immunized.
But most signs point toward an optimistic future:
A future where we can expect to go back to a life that, for the most part, will remind us of life before the pandemic.