U.S. federal agencies are easing or even ending many indoor masking requirements, after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced last month that it was removing most of its indoor-masking recommendations due to lower reported cases of COVID-19.
The White House then issued new mask guidance to federal agencies, advising agencies in counties with medium or low levels of COVID-19 that they can lift all mask requirements for federal buildings, Reuters reported Feb. 28. Approximately 70 percent of counties have COVID levels in this range, Reuters reports.
“We want to give people a break from things like mask wearing when our levels are low," CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said in statements to the news media Feb. 25 on the new mask recommendations, "and then have the ability to reach for them again, should things get worse in the future."
The departments of Justice (DOJ) and Defense (DOD) were the first two agencies to lift their indoor mask requirements, dropping all restrictions at their D.C. facilities March 2, Reuters reported at the time. The DOD shift effects 20,000 civilian and military personnel at the Pentagon, according to Reuters.
The DOJ announced that in addition to dropping mask requirements at its D.C. facilities, it plans also to implement new workplace policies "including a phased increase in onsite presence, over the next two months." Facilities outside of the nation's capital must follow the CDC's community level guidance, DOJ announced.
Reuters and other news outlets report the White House has also lifted mask requirements for individuals who are fully vaccinated; other COVID protocols, including vaccination verification and testing, would remain.
Additional federal agencies are expected to also ease masking requirements in the coming days and weeks.
Federal mask requirements at airports, train stations and on buses, airplanes and trains remain in place at least through March 18 and could be extended.
