The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) yesterday unexpectedly announced the news many of us have been eager to hear: If you're fully vaccinated, it's fine to forego your face mask not just outdoors, but indoors as well. As my colleague Alice Park reports, there are some important caveats—if you're traveling on public transportation, for instance, you should still mask up—but the announcement was a welcome relief to those of us sick of hidden faces and sweaty chins.
The CDC's guidance is just that—guidance, not law. It's up to individuals, as well as state, local and business leaders, to decide whether to adopt the agency's recommendation. There may be good reason to take things slowly: some people are concerned that the new guidance will give cover to people who aren't vaccinated but also don't want to mask up, and it's impossible to tell who's really had their shots. "You're going to be depending on people being honest enough to say whether they were vaccinated or not and responsible enough to be wearing...a mask, not only for their own protection, but also for the protection of others," Dr. Anthony Fauci told CNN's Jake Tapper last night.
Some states, including Texas, Utah and Louisiana, have already lifted their mask mandates—or, in the case of states like South Dakota, never had mask mandates in the first place. Others quickly followed the CDC's new guidance—in Oregon , Washington, Michigan and Kentucky , for instance, vaccinated people can now go maskless indoors. "Folks, this is outstanding. It means we are so close to normalcy," Kentucky governor Andy Beshear said in a video announcing the changes. Other states are responding more cautiously; the rules have yet to change in California, New York,New Jersey and Massachusetts , for example. "If you're in a business and a public setting, we're not there yet, we're frankly not there yet," New Jersey governor Phil Murphy told reporters during a public event today. But even those states could change their rules soon.
The CDC's guidance leaves some practical questions unanswered. Parents of children who aren't old enough to be vaccinated yet may be especially cautious about bringing their kids to places where people are going unmasked, for example, because there's no telling if others are vaccinated.
Still, no matter how this unfolds, the CDC's announcement is a big vote of confidence in the vaccines. Before the shots were available, social distancing and face coverings were our best defense against COVID-19. Now, we can dramatically reduce our risk of getting sick after one or two quick visits to our local pharmacy. It's only because the shots are safe and effective that you can now begin ditching your mask—if you want to, of course.
About 341.8 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been shipped to various U.S. states as of May 12, of which 268.4 million doses have been administered thus far, according to TIME's vaccine tracker. About 36.2% of Americans have been completely vaccinated.
It's a "moral catastrophe" for richer countries to vaccinate lower-risk groups like children before high-risk adults in poorer countries get their turn, World Health Organization executive director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during a media briefing today. "I urge [rich countries] to reconsider, and to instead donate vaccines to COVAX," he added, referring to a global initiative to ensure equitable vaccine access. He warned that COVID-19 is on track to kill more people globally this year than it did in 2020, as outbreaks in places like India rage on.
The Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna mRNA vaccines cut fully vaccinated health care workers' risk of getting sick by 94%, according to a CDC study of half a million such workers released today. Even those who were just partially vaccinated were at about 82% less risk of getting sick. CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said in a statement the study adds to the growing body of evidence that the vaccines work in the real world, and noted that this study and others were "pivotal" while crafting the CDC's new recommendations for vaccinated people.
Delta Air Lines, one of the world's biggest airlines, will require all new hires in the United States to be vaccinated as of next Monday, it announced in a statement today. The move is intended to "protect Delta's people and customers, ensuring the airline can safely operate as demand returns and as it accelerates through recovery and into the future," the company said. Current Delta employees won't be required to get vaccinated. The company's policy could set the tone as other employers across the U.S. and the world figure out their own vaccination policies.
TODAY'S CORONAVIRUS OUTLOOK
The Global Situation
Nearly 161.2 million people around the world had been diagnosed with COVID-19 as of 1 a.m. E.T. today, and more than 3.3 million people have died. On May 13, there were 725,275 new cases and 13,135 new deaths confirmed globally.
Here's how the world as a whole is currently trending:
Here's where daily cases have risen or fallen over the last 14 days, shown in confirmed cases per 100,000 residents:
And here is every country with over 2.5 million confirmed cases:
Disturbing signs suggest that the pandemic may be running out of control in Southeast Asia, my colleague Amy Gunia reports from Hong Kong. Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos, each of which had previously recorded relatively few cases, are now reporting major spikes. In Vietnam, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has warned that a new surge could spark political instability, while health care workers have been warned to prepare for a major surge in patients. Vaccine rollouts in the area remain slow; in Thailand and Vietnam, for instance, just 2% of people have received their first shots.
A group of scientists from some of the world's premier universities are calling for a deeper investigation of the pandemic's origin. In a letter published today in the journal Science , they argue that while SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) may have jumped from an animal to a human, there's still a possibility that it escaped from a lab. "A proper investigation should be transparent, objective, data-driven, inclusive of broad expertise, subject to independent oversight, and responsibly managed to minimize the impact of conflicts of interest," the scientists wrote. The letter comes after a report from a WHO investigation in China released in March concluded that the animal-to-human theory was the most likely scenario. However, the scientists who wrote the letter are concerned that leaders in China, where the virus first emerged, interfered with the WHO's work.
The Situation in the U.S.
The U.S. had recorded nearly 32.9 million coronavirus cases as of 1 a.m. E.T. today. Nearly 584,500 people have died. On May 13, there were 38,087 new cases and 802 new deaths confirmed in the U.S.
Here's how the country as a whole is currently trending:
Here's where daily cases have risen or fallen over the last 14 days, shown in confirmed cases per 100,000 residents:
Florida governor Ron DeSantis plans to pardon citizens who violated the state's masking or social distancing rules during the pandemic, he said during a recent appearance on Fox News. "These things with health should be advisory; they should not be punitive," DeSantis later added.
The CDC's updated masking guidance is affecting more than states and businesses: The U.S. Department of Defense said in a memo yesterday that it will no longer require vaccinated people to wear masks indoors or outdoors at its facilities, Stars and Stripes reports. However, people who aren't at least two weeks out from their final shot should still mask up, per the memo.
All numbers unless otherwise specified are from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering, and are accurate as of May 14, 1 a.m. E.T. To see larger, interactive versions of these maps and charts, click here.
WHAT ELSE YOU SHOULD KNOW
Civil Society Groups Step Up in India
While the Indian government's response to surging cases has been "utterly ineffective," civil society organizations have stepped in to provide relief, Simran Jeet Singh writes for TIME. Read more here.
The Show Must Go On at the Hollywood Bowl
Los Angeles' historic Hollywood Bowl is set to reopen with a concert for essential workers this weekend. However, getting such a large venue ready to welcome guests again is no easy task, as the Los Angeles Times reports. Read more here.
Thanks for reading. We hope you find the Coronavirus Brief newsletter to be a helpful tool to navigate this very complex situation, and welcome feedback at coronavirus.brief@time.com. If you have specific questions you'd like us to answer, please send them to covidquestions@time.com.
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Today's newsletter was written by Tara Law and edited by Alex Fitzpatrick.
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