People fully vaccinated against COVID-19 can travel freely in the United States, as long as they remain masked on planes, buses and trains, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced on Friday.
It is unclear how much impact the new orientation will have. People are already traveling and making decisions on their own. American Airlines reported on Monday that the company’s reserves jumped to 90 percent of what they were before the pandemic.
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The new guidance means that “fully vaccinated grandparents can fly to visit their healthy grandchildren without taking a COVID-19 test, or self-quarantine, as long as they follow the other recommended preventive measures,” said CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky, this Friday during a summary newscast.
Even so, the number of COVID-19 cases continues to increase. The current average of new cases in seven days is just over 62,000 cases per day.
Although fully vaccinated people can travel at low risk, Walensky said, “The CDC is not recommending travel at this time due to the growing number of cases.”
The US is expected to exceed 100 million people who received at least one dose of the vaccine on Friday. More than 56 million Americans are fully vaccinated, according to the CDC.
A person is considered fully vaccinated two weeks after their last dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. This gives the body enough time to build antibodies against the virus.
This latter guideline offers another step to resume normal activity for those who received two doses of injections from Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna or an injection of the Johnson & Johnson single dose vaccine.
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The CDC said that COVID-19 tests are no longer needed for people who are fully vaccinated before or after a trip within the United States, and there is no need to self-quarantine. The guidance does not mention whether people need proof of vaccination to travel, although no US airline requires such documentation.
The same rules apply to people vaccinated on international travel, with a few exceptions. Some destination countries may require a negative COVID-19 test for entry. And the CDC recommends that people test negative before returning to the US
And the mitigation measures remain even for vaccinated travelers: wear masks, avoid large crowds and wash your hands frequently.
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In fact, all U.S. airlines still require passengers to wear masks.
“Taking preventive measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 is the way out of this pandemic,” said Walensky.
The CDC has been offering guidance slowly on what people can do after they are fully vaccinated. In early March, the agency said that they can safely meet with small groups of other families without wearing masks or physically distancing themselves, even if those people have not yet had their vaccinations.
This story first appeared on NBCNews.com.