What parents need to know about mask guidance and unvaccinated children TODAY 3 hrs ago Meghan Holohan When the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released guidelines saying it is safe for fully vaccinated Americans to go without a mask in most situations, many sighed in relief and happily cast their masks aside. But parents with children who are too young for a COVID-19 vaccine wonder what this means for them: Should they continue to wear masks in public places? Do they need to keep their children away from the grocery store, Target or movie theaters? “Parents should encourage masking and they should avoid crowded public spaces,” Dr. Sten Vermund, dean of the Yale School of Public Health in New Haven, Connecticut, told TODAY. “So that’s it in a nutshell.”