Understanding the CDC's new mask guidelines Are you ready to lose your mask? The CDC's new indoor mask guidelines may sound good in theory, but what about in practice? A lot of questions remain about exactly how this will impact whether we keep wearing masks indoors. NEW YORK - "Personally, I would say I'm not ready to take my mask off." That was Dr. Rabia Ali de Latour's reaction to the CDC announcing Thursday that vaccinated individuals no longer needed to wear a mask. There are however a lot of exceptions to the new rules. "It's important to note that they're not recommending that everyone just go maskless everywhere. There's a lot of caveats involved in this recommendation," adds Ali de Latour who is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the New York University Grossman School of Medicine. "They're still recommending that if you go to a healthcare facility, if you're traveling anywhere, especially on public transportation or if you're in a transportation hub--like a train station or an airport--or if you're in a homeless shelter or any type of prison that you still should wear masks, but for everyone else--they're saying that if you're indoors or outdoors, you don't have to."