While the big box stores issued similar statements, simply saying they were reviewing their policies, Palm Beach County Administrator Verdenia Baker gave voice to concerns.
She, too, said she is considering the CDC’s new rules and weighing whether to allow fully vaccinated people to wander county buildings without masks.
But, she said, at this point in the pandemic, with COVID-19 cases still growing and most people still not protected against the disease, changing course scares her.
“The problem is how do you know if someone has been vaccinated?” she said. “People don’t walk around with tags hanging from their chests that say, ‘I’ve been vaccinated.’”
In a major step towards returning to pre-pandemic life, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has eased mask-wearing guidance for fully vaccinated people in America, allowing them to stop wearing masks outdoors in crowds and in most indoor settings. “Today is a great day for America,” US President Joe Biden said during a Rose Garden address on Thursday (Friday NZT) heralding the new guidance, an event where he and his staff went without masks. Hours earlier in the Oval Office, where Biden was meeting with vaccinated Republican lawmakers, he led the group in removing their masks when the guidance was announced.