Health

‘The Choice Is Yours’: In Line With CDC’s Mask Guidance, Biden Gives Americans An Ultimatum On Vaccines

(Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Brianna Lyman News and Commentary Writer
Font Size:

President Joe Biden issued an ultimatum to Americans Thursday after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) eased restrictions for vaccinated Americans.

“The rule is now simple,” the president tweeted. “Get vaccinated or wear a mask until you do.”

“The choice is yours.”

The CDC updated its guidance Thursday, allowing vaccinated Americans to forgo masks both outdoors and in most indoor situations. The guidance still encourages Americans to wear a mask in crowded areas but otherwise says it is safe for vaccinated people to go mask-less in crowds outdoors.

Following CDC guidance, the White House lifted its mask mandate for all staff, media and guests that are fully vaccinated.

Despite the good news, Dr. Anthony Fauci has previously warned that masks could very well become a seasonal thing. (RELATED: American COVID-19 Deaths Hit Lowest Rate In More Than A Year)

“We’ve had practically a non-existent flu season this year merely because people were doing the kinds of public health things that were directed predominantly against COVID-19,” Fauci told NBC News Sunday.

“So it is conceivable that as we go on, a year or two or more from now, that during certain seasonal periods when you have respiratory-borne viruses like the flu, people might actually elect to wear masks to diminish the likelihood that you’ll spread these respiratory-borne diseases.”

The announcement to drop the mask mandate for vaccinated Americans comes after it was reported the CDC was dramatically overstating outdoor transmission of the virus.

The New York Times reported the CDC’s April announcement that the chance of catching COVID-19 outside was less than 10% exaggerated the truth. Instead, the report claimed outdoor transmission was less than 1%, and could even be as low as 0.1%

“There is not a single documented Covid infection anywhere in the world from casual outdoor interactions, such as walking past someone on a street or eating at a nearby table,” The Times reported.