Pritzker To Follow Science, Loosen Mask Mandate In Line With CDC

ILLINOIS — The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revised its guidance on mask-wearing Thursday to allow fully vaccinated people to go maskless indoors most of the time. A spokesperson for Gov. J.B. Pritzker said he would follow the science and revise Illinois' statewide mask mandate to bring it in line with the latest CDC recommendations.

"The Governor believes firmly in following the science and intends to revise his executive orders in line with the upcoming CDC guidelines lifting additional mitigations for vaccinated people," Pritzker's press secretary, Jordan Abudayyeh, told Patch in an email. "The scientists’ message is clear: if you are vaccinated, you can safely do much more."

Nationally, coronavirus infections are at the lowest number in eight months, while COVID-19 deaths are at their lowest point since last April, according to the Associated Press.

RELATED: Bridge Phase Starts Friday In Illinois: What It Means For You

According to the CDC, fully vaccinated people can stop wearing masks or social distancing except for while on busses, trains, planes and other forms of public transport, or while in hospitals, doctors' offices and other health care settings.

"If you are fully vaccinated, you can start doing the things that you had stopped doing because of the pandemic," CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said Thursday. "We have all longed for this moment, when we can get back to some sense of normalcy."

Of course, private businesses can still require patrons to wear masks, and local and state governments can set their own mandates, which the CDC still recommends complying with.

As of Thursday, 62 percent of adults across Illinois had received at least one dose of a vaccine, and about 37 percent had been fully vaccinated. More than 84 percent of those over age 65 have been fully vaccinated.

"This good news comes with a caveat," the governor said last week. "We all have seen throughout this pandemic that this virus and its variants have proven to be unpredictable. Metrics that look strong today are far from a guarantee of how things will look a week, two weeks, a month from now. We saw that last August and again last March. But what we do know we have tools in the arsenal that have proven extremely effective."

In Illinois, the statewide test positivity rate has fallen to 3.2 percent, but 1,765 Illinoisans remain hospitalized for COVID-19, including 465 in intensive care and 236 on ventilators.

Illinois will move into the "bridge" phase of the governor's reopening plan Friday, allowing businesses and restaurants more indoor capacity.

"Illinoisans have worked so hard over the past year and a half to keep their families and neighbors safe, and reaching Bridge Phase means that we're closer than ever to a return to normalcy," Pritzker said Thursday in a statement.