On April 27 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued new guidance for people who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19. The agency’s latest guidelines support a wealth of evidence that COVID-19 is far less likely to be transmitted outside than indoors.

It’s important to note this guidance is for small gatherings in a household and does not apply to the workplace, school setting, or other public spaces. 

Someone is considered fully vaccinated two weeks after their second shot of Moderna or Pfizer’s two-dose regimen, or two weeks following the single-dose Johnson & Johnson (Janssen) vaccine.

Fully vaccinated people can:

• Exercise outdoors or with members of their household without a mask 
• Hold small gatherings outdoors with others who are inoculated, or with a mix of unvaccinated people, without face coverings 
• Gather indoors with fully vaccinated people without wearing a mask or staying 6 feet apart 
• Gather indoors with unvaccinated people of any age from one other household (for example, visiting with relatives whom all live together) without masks or staying 6 feet apart, unless any of those people or anyone they live with has an increased risk for severe illness from COVID-19 
• If you travel in the US, you don’t need to get tested before or after travel, or self-quarantine after travel 
• Visit with other fully vaccinated people indoors without wearing masks or physical distancing

If you’ve been fully vaccinated:

• Take precautions in public like wearing a well-fitted mask and physical distancing
• Wear masks, practice physical distancing, and adhere to other prevention measures when visiting with unvaccinated people who are at increased risk for severe COVID-19 disease or who have an unvaccinated household member who is at increased risk for severe COVID-19 disease
• Wear masks, maintain physical distance, and practice other prevention measures when visiting with unvaccinated people from multiple households
• Avoid medium- and large-sized in-person gatherings
• Get tested if experiencing COVID-19 symptoms
• Follow guidance issued by individual employers
• Follow CDC and health department travel requirements and recommendations