The First Lady says she “feels naked” without her mask after Joe Biden told Americans who have had both doses of the coronavirus vaccine that they no longer need to wear them in many settings.
In an announcement yesterday, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued newly relaxed guidelines, allowing vaccinated people to stop wearing face masks in outdoor crowds and most indoor settings.
Jill Biden and actor Jennifer Garner were amongst those taking advantage of the relaxed rules during a visit to a high school in Virginia.
While she was seen wearing a pink face covering while boarding a place in Washington DC earlier that day, she later removed it.
“We feel naked,” she joked upon greeting Garner, before adding: “I didn’t mean it that way!”
“We just learned as we got off the plane, and here I had gone out to buy one that was coordinated with my outfit so you can’t win,” she said of the new guidelines.
Welcoming the change, the First Lady said, “the clouds are finally breaking”.
“Spring’s more beautiful than ever. And the best is yet to come. Let’s have some fun,” she said, as per Mail Online.
Under the eased restrictions, Americans can remove their face coverings two weeks after receiving the second dose of the vaccine.
“The science is clear: if you are fully vaccinated, you are protected, and you can start doing the things that you stopped doing because of the pandemic.”
“You can shed your masks,” Rochelle Walensky, CDC’s Director said.
Vaccinated people must still wear their masks on planes, buses and trains and other forms of public transport, as well as at airports and train stations.
Businesses have expressed concern that the new guidelines will cause confusion, as there is no way of knowing who is and isn’t 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,” Marc Perrone, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union told AP.
“Are they now supposed to become the vaccination police?” he added.
