NY Adopts CDC's New Outdoor Mask Guidance

NEW YORK —New York adopted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's new outdoor mask guidance, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday.

People who are fully vaccinated— defined as two or more weeks after receiving the second dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine or the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine — can now go maskless while outdoors biking, hiking, running with members of their households — or in small outdoor gatherings with others who are fully vaccinated or unvaccinated, he said.

Those who are fully vaccinated can also dine at an outdoor restaurant with friends from multiple households, the CDC said. However, even those who are vaccinated should still wear masks at outdoor events with large crowds, as well as indoor events and stores, the CDC said.

• Read the new CDC mask guidance

The vaccination effort, Cuomo added, is critical. To that end, Cuomo announced that as of Thursday, all mass vaccination sites in the state will open to everyone 16 and over. Anyone can walk in without an appointment. In addition, local health departments and county sites can also decide to offer vaccinations without appointments, he said.

Fully vaccinated individuals with immunocompromising conditions should consult with their health care provider first.

According to the new CDC guidance, fully vaccinated people can engage in more activities than unvaccinated people, which include:

• Fully vaccinated workers no longer need to be restricted from work following an exposure as long as they are asymptomatic
• Fully vaccinated residents of non-health care congregate settings no longer need to quarantine following a known exposure
• Visit with other fully vaccinated people indoors without wearing masks or physical distancing
• Visit with unvaccinated people (including children) from a single household who are at low risk for severe COVID-19 disease indoors without wearing masks or physical distancing
• Participate in outdoor activities and recreation without a mask, except in certain crowded settings and venues
• Resume domestic travel and refrain from testing before or after travel or self-quarantine after travel
• Refrain from testing before leaving the United States for international travel (unless required by the destination) and refrain from self-quarantine after arriving back in the United States.
• Refrain from testing following a known exposure, if asymptomatic, with some exceptions for specific settings
• Refrain from quarantine following a known exposure if asymptomatic
• Refrain from routine screening testing if asymptomatic and feasible (in non-health care settings)

The change takes place immediately, Cuomo said.

To see the full CDC guidance, click here.

With New York's coronavirus positivity rate at 2.6 percent Tuesday — that number stands at 2.1 percent on Long Island — and 26 deaths reported, Cuomo said COVID-19 is still dangerous.

"This is still a serious threat," he said.

The news comes as a reduction in the numbers of those seeking vaccinations has begun to drop, Cuomo said. Recently, the state was administering 175,000 vaccinations over a 24-hour period, that number has dropped to 115,000.

The reduced numbers can be attributed to vaccine hesitancy as well as a number of other categories of people, including those who feel they are young "superheroes" and don't need the vaccine; those who are "scientists" and are unsure about the vaccine; and those who are "skeptics," Cuomo said.

Even those who believe the decision is their own to make need to realize that they are part of a larger community, Cuomo said. He also announced a new state ad campaign aimed at urging New Yorkers to get vaccinated for the good of the community.