The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated guidelines for summer camps on Friday, recommending that vaccinated campers don’t need to wear masks.
“For camps where everyone is fully vaccinated prior to the start of camp, it is safe to return to full capacity, without masking, and without physical distancing… except where required by federal, state, local, tribal, or territorial laws, rules, and regulations,” the CDC said.
FAUCI AND CDC CATCHING HEAT FOR SUMMER CAMP MASK GUIDELINES
The new CDC guidelines recommend all eligible camp attendees 12 and older get vaccinated before arriving at camp. Previous guidelines from the agency skewed conservative, advising adults and children to wear masks wherever possible, even outdoors, despite consensus that transmission risk is low outdoors.
Children 12 to 15 only recently became eligible for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, the first to receive expanded authorization from federal regulators after the two-shot dose was shown to be safe and 100% effective for adolescents in clinical trials. The CDC granted final approval for the shots to be administered to children on May 12. Now, more than 59% of children 12 and older have received at least one dose.
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The agency maintained recommendations that camps show support for attendees who want to keep their masks on regardless of vaccination status. Younger children are not eligible for a vaccine yet and should still be encouraged to wear masks, according to the updated guidance.
