Coloradans no longer are required by the state to wear masks in most public settings, and the state’s remaining public health orders to fight COVID-19 will end June 1, Gov. Jared Polis announced Friday afternoon.
Polis not only adopted new federal guidance that says vaccinated people no longer need to wear masks in most places, he said the state won’t require unvaccinated people to keep wearing facial coverings — though it’s recommended they continue to do so in public settings.
Local governments and businesses still can elect to require masks.
“We are going from mask-wearing requirements to mask-wearing suggestions and guidance,” Polis said at a news conference.
Through the end of May, unvaccinated people will continue to be required to wear masks in schools, child care facilities, emergency medical settings, prisons, jails and homeless shelters, Polis said.
Starting June 1, state rules won’t require anyone to wear a mask in any settings, though businesses and school districts could still mandate them.
The state also will lift the requirement that events attracting more than 500 people get approval from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment starting June 1, Polis said. That could mean the return of full-capacity professional sporting events and concerts for the first time in more than a year, though it’s possible some counties could choose to set their own restrictions.
The Department of Motor Vehicles will require all customers to wear masks for two weeks, though vaccinated employees can choose not to wear one now, Polis said. After that, masks won’t be required.
The announcement comes a day after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released new guidance that fully vaccinated people could safely go without masks in most public spaces. It still recommends that vaccinated people wear masks on public transportation, in hospitals and in crowded settings like prisons and homeless shelters.
Polis urged people who haven’t yet been vaccinated to get the shot, especially since control measures like the mask mandate and capacity limits will no longer offer some protection.
“The pandemic is not yet over, but if you are vaccinated, it is largely over for you,” Polis said, encouraging people who aren’t yet vaccinated to get inoculated. “This is a matter of personal responsibility.”
Colorado’s statewide order had required masks for indoor settings where 10 or more people are present, and fewer than 80% are known to be vaccinated, such as grocery stores, indoor entertainment venues and schools.
The CDC’s recommendations are purely advisory, leaving it up to states and other levels of government to set policies for their jurisdictions.
Private businesses can still require customers and staff to wear masks, and Polis asked shoppers to comply if asked to mask up.
“I think you’re going to see businesses adopt different models, based on what their customers want,” he said. “I think there’s enough Coloradans with different preferences that the market will support different choices.”
Target and Home Depot have announced that they will continue requiring all customers to wear masks for the foreseeable future, while Trader Joe’s has said only unvaccinated people need to mask up, according to The Washington Post.
It’s not clear how stores will determine if customers can safely go without masks, and the United Food and Commercial Workers union, which represents about 1.3 million people working in food processing and retail, said the ambiguity creates problems.
“Millions of Americans are doing the right thing and getting vaccinated, but essential workers are still forced to play mask police for shoppers who are unvaccinated and refuse to follow local COVID safety measures. Are they now supposed to become the vaccination police?” UFCW International President Marc Perrone said in a statement.
Dr. Rich Besser, a former acting director of the CDC who is now president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, told NBC News that it would be impractical to enforce a mask mandate only on unvaccinated people.
“It will be the honor system. If they decide not to wear a mask, the risk is primarily to themselves,” he said Friday morning.
Representatives for the Denver Department of Public Health and Environment, Jefferson County Public Health and Tri-County Health Department said they would wait to see the state’s new order before deciding whether to enact local rules.
The CDC still recommends that people who haven’t been fully vaccinated keep wearing masks indoors, or at outdoor gatherings with other people who aren’t fully vaccinated. It also advises people with compromised immune systems to talk with their doctors before they stop wearing masks, because their bodies may not have responded to the vaccine.
Some in public health see the new recommendations as a way to encourage reluctant people to get the vaccine, while others worry about increased transmission if unvaccinated people stop wearing masks.
“On one hand, people may feel more incentivized to get the vaccine if they see that by getting the vaccine, they no longer have to wear a mask and can resume pre-pandemic activities,” Rupali J. Limaye, an associate scientist in global disease epidemiology and control at Johns Hopkins University, told SciLine. “On the other hand, it may not be enough of an incentive to get the vaccine, and may signal to people that they can go maskless while being unvaccinated, as there is no way to know who is vaccinated and who is not. This could lead to a situation where those that are unvaccinated may be maskless in settings where there are other unvaccinated individuals, leading to higher risk of exposure.”
