Mask On or Off? Life Is Getting Back to Normal, and We’re Rusty.

After the C.D.C. issued new guidelines, people are figuring out how to proceed. Some want to keep their face coverings on: “It saves me having to put on sunscreen.”

Mark Rasch hopped on his bike Tuesday in Bethesda, Md., pedaled off for an afternoon ride, and realized he forgot his mask. As he turned back for it, news came on the radio over his earbuds: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said masks were no longer required outdoors for fully vaccinated people unless they were in a crowd. Mr. Rasch, a lawyer, rode on, naked from nose to chin for the first time in a year. He reached nearby Georgetown and found he was nearly alone in that almost everyone else there remained masked. “I wondered if there was a store I could go into without wearing a mask to buy a mask?” he said. Instead, he went home, and told his wife: “Nothing is changing, but it’s happening quickly.”