What Does the New Mask Guidance Really Mean?

The C.D.C. now says it is safe for fully vaccinated people to take their masks off in most indoor settings. States, cities and businesses were sorting through what to do with the guidance.

More than a year after federal health officials told Americans to cover their faces when venturing out in public, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday that fully vaccinated people could start taking off their masks indoors. But the new federal guidance — announced amid a sharp decline in coronavirus cases and an expansion of vaccine eligibility to everyone 12 and older — came with caveats and confusion. And it sent state and local officials, as well as private companies, scrambling to decide whether and when to update their own rules. Here are some questions you might have about what the C.D.C.’s new stance means, and what it doesn’t mean.