CDC: Fully-Vaccinated People Can Gather Indoors Without Masks

On Monday, March 8, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that people who are fully vaccinated can now gather indoors without wearing a mask. Colorado still has a statewide mask mandate (unlike Texas and Mississippi), so here's what that means for us. 

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First, you are not fully vaccinated until it has been at least two weeks since your second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine (or first dose, if you received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine).

'If it has been less than two weeks since your shot, or if you still need to get your second dose, you are NOT fully protected,' the CDC said.

But, here's what's different than before — the CDC now says that if you are fully vaccinated, 'you can gather indoors with fully vaccinated people without wearing a mask,' and you can 'gather indoors with unvaccinated people from one other household without masks, unless any of those people or anyone they live with has an increased risk for severe illness from COVID-19.'

What's the same as before — even if you are fully vaccinated, you should still wear a mask in public places (which is mandatory in Colorado, and an ongoing public health order for Larimer County as well), and should still avoid larger gatherings. More information from the CDC is available here.

As of March 4, 521,567 Coloradans had received both doses of the two-dose vaccines. On March 5, Colorado entered Phase 1.3.B of the vaccine rollout, and began giving the Johnson & Johnson single-dose COVID-19 vaccine.

The NoCo Virus Tracker articles are made possible by our partners, the Keep NoCo Open campaign that reminds citizens to wear a mask, wash your hands, physically distance and support local as Northern Colorado recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic.