As federal health officials on Thursday cleared the way for Americans who are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus to drop mask wearing in most situations, some states lifted mask mandates while others took a more cautious approach.
The governors of New York, North Carolina, New Jersey and Virginia, all Democrats, said they were taking the new guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under advisement before adopting it. In deference to local authorities, the C.D.C. said vaccinated people must continue to abide by existing state, local, or tribal laws and regulations, and follow local rules for businesses and workplaces.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York said the state has “always relied on the facts and the science to guide us throughout the worst of this pandemic” and will review the new federal guidelines with the state health department and health experts in neighboring states.
“The C.D.C. announcement today on masks shows the important benefits of vaccinations,” a spokeswoman for Gov. Roy Cooper of North Carolina said in a statement. “North Carolina two weeks ago removed the outdoor mask mandate, but the indoor mask mandate remains in effect while state health officials review the specific C.D.C. recommendations.”
A spokeswoman for Gov. Philip D. Murphy of New Jersey, said that the governor and the state health department were “reviewing the new CDC guidance on masking requirements.”
Gov. Ralph Northam of Virginia said in a statement is “reviewing the new mask and distancing recommendation and will update our guidance accordingly.”
In Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser said the city was also reviewing the guidance and would update Washington’s guidelines “accordingly.”
Half of the country’s governors had already lifted mask mandates in some form within their states. But one by one on Thursday, more began to follow. Illinois, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Connecticut and Kentucky immediately adjusted their mask wearing guidance.
Gov. Andy Beshear of Kentucky, a Democrat, called the guidelines the “news that we have all been waiting for.”
“This is outstanding,” he said in a recorded video. “It means we are so close to normalcy.”
Mr. Beshear said there were “hundreds of thousands” of available vaccine appointments, and encouraged all state residents to take advantage of them. “If you get vaccinated, the C.D.C. says it is safe to take that mask off.”
In revising the state’s guidelines, Gov. J.B. Pritzker of Illinois, also a Democrat, said “the scientists message is clear: If you are vaccinated, you can safely do much more.”
In Washington State, Gov. Jay Inslee, who usually wears a mask while speaking at his news conferences, began his gathering on Thursday by removing it. He said the state was immediately incorporating the new federal guidance on mask wearing.
“This is a heck of a benefit for people who have been annoyed by this mask,” Mr. Inslee said. “This is a really good reason to get vaccinated. That shot is a ticket to freedom from masks.”
The new policy seemed to catch many retailers and their workers by surprise. Macy’s, Target and the Gap said they were still reviewing the new guidance, while Home Depot said it had no plans to change its current rules requiring customers and workers to wear masks in its stores.
The United Food and Commercial Workers union, representing thousands of grocery store workers, criticized the C.D.C. for failing to consider how the new policy would impact workers who have to deal with customers who are not vaccinated. “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,” the union’s president, Marc Perrone, said in a statement. “Are they now supposed to become the vaccination police?”
The Retail Leaders Industry Association, a trade group, said that the policy complicated matters in states that still have mask mandates in place that retailers must follow. “These conflicting positions put retailers and their employees in incredibly difficult situations,” the group said in a statement.
The new advice comes with caveats. Even vaccinated individuals must cover their faces and physically distance when going to doctors, hospitals or long-term care facilities like nursing homes; when traveling by bus, plane, train or other modes of public transportation, or while in transportation hubs like airports and bus stations; and in congregate settings such as homeless shelters, as well as prisons or jails.
At a White House news conference on Thursday, Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky, the C.D.C. director, warned that unexpected twists in the pandemic could require the agency to again amend the guidance.
Some fully vaccinated people have been infected with the coronavirus. Dr. Walensky said that any who develop symptoms should still use masks and get tested, she said. Asked how the new guidance might apply to businesses and schools, she said that the C.D.C. was working to rapidly issue new recommendations soon for specific settings, including for summer camps and travel.
The move could raise alarms among more cautious Americans, who may be more reluctant to engage in public activities when more people are unmasked. There is no way to know who is vaccinated and who is not, and the majority of the population is not yet fully vaccinated. Dr. Walensky added that immunocompromised people who have been fully vaccinated should consult their physicians before relinquishing a face mask.
Still, the changes are likely to galvanize Americans who have become unaccustomed to appearing in public unmasked — or to seeing others do so.
“We’ve got to liberalize the restrictions so people can feel like they’re getting back to some normalcy,” Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the Biden administration’s senior adviser on the pandemic, said in an interview. “Pulling back restrictions on indoor masks is an important step in the right direction.”
“For those who are more risk averse, you have a choice of continuing to wear it if you want to,” Dr. Fauci said.
At the White House on Thursday, President Biden hailed the new recommendations as a “milestone” in the nation’s effort to beat back the pandemic.
“Today is a great day for America,” he said during an address in the Rose Garden, where he and Vice President Kamala Harris appeared without masks. “You’ve earned the right to do something that Americans are known for all around the world: greeting others with a smile.”
But he cautioned that many adults were still not vaccinated, and pleaded with Americans to be patient with those who had been but still wanted to wear a mask for now as they adjusted to gradually adjusting to a new normal after more than a year of living through the pandemic.
“Please treat them with kindness and respect,” he said. “We’ve had too much conflict, too much bitterness, too much anger, too much politicization of this issue about wearing masks. Let’s put it to rest.”
Michael Corkery, Sapna Maheshwari Lauren Hirsch and Mike Baker contributed reporting.
