Federal health officials said Tuesday that fully vaccinated Americans can go without masks outdoors when walking, jogging or biking, or dining with friends at outdoor restaurants.

The guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is the latest set of recommendations for people who are two weeks past their final shot and for those who have not yet been inoculated. The guidelines address growing calls from infectious-disease and other public health experts to relax mask mandates for the outdoors because breezes disperse airborne virusparticles, distancing is easier, and humidity and sunlight render the coronavirus less viable.

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For that reason, the guidance also says even unvaccinated individuals may go without masks when walking, jogging or biking outdoors with household members. However, officials caution that crowded outdoor settings still pose risks and urge everyone — both vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals — to wear masks when attending sporting events, live performances and parades.

The recommendations come as more than 52 percent of eligible people in the United States have gotten at least one shot,butvaccine supply has begun to outstrip demand. The guidance is aimed at helping the fully inoculated ease back into daily routines upended by the pandemic while encouraging others to get their shots to counter highly contagious new variants. States and localities across the country are opening walk-in clinics to make it easier for people to get vaccines.

“Over the past year, we have spent a lot of time telling Americans what they cannot do, what they should not do,” CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said at a White House briefing. “Today, I’m going to tell you some of the things you can do if you are fully vaccinated.”

A growing body of evidence suggests that fully vaccinated people are less likely to have asymptomatic infections or transmit the coronavirus to others. Officials don’t know how long protection lasts and how much the vaccines protect against emerging virus variants.

But “taking steps toward relaxing certain measures for vaccinated people may help improve coronavirus vaccine acceptance and uptake,” the guidance states. “Therefore, there are several activities that fully vaccinated people can resume now, at low risk to themselves, while being mindful of the potential risk of transmitting the disease to others.”

Last month, the CDC told pandemic-weary Americans who were fully vaccinated they could gather indoors with other fully vaccinated peoplewithout wearing masks, and could visit indoors with unvaccinated people under certain conditions.

The guidance released Tuesday includes a color-coded chart that shows activities that fully vaccinated and unvaccinated people can do indoors and outdoors, and which ones can be done without masks. The safest activities, highlighted in green, are outdoors in small gatherings. Activities with the greatest risk are indoor settings that involve behaviors such as singing, shouting, heavy breathing, inability to wear a mask or inability to maintain physical distancing, such as indoor high-intensity exercise class.

The nearly 96 million Americans who are fully vaccinated can now forgo masks for many outdoor activities, including:

° Walking, running, hiking or biking outdoors alone or with members of your household.

º Attending a small outdoor gathering with fully vaccinated family and friends.

º Attending a small outdoor gathering with a mix of fully vaccinated and unvaccinated people.

º Dining at an outdoor restaurant with friends from multiple households.

Officials say certain conditions increase risk: crowding, time spent, lack of ventilation and high community transmission. That’s why the CDC is recommending that it is safest for fully vaccinated people to continue to wear well-fitted masks in these settings, including:

º Attending a crowded outdoor event, such as a live performance, parade or sporting event.

º Visiting a barber or hair salon.

º Going to an uncrowded indoor shopping mall or museum.

º Going to an indoor movie theater.

º Attending a full-capacity service at a house of worship.

º Singing in an indoor chorus.

“The examples today show that when you are fully vaccinated, you can return to many activities safely … and begin to get back to normal,” Walensky said. “And the more people who are vaccinated, the more steps we can take towards spending time with people we love, doing the things we love to enjoy. I hope this message is encouraging for you. It shows just how powerful these vaccines are.”

Credit: Washington Post