When federal health officials said Thursday that fully vaccinated Americans no longer needed to wear masks in most places, it came as a surprise to many people in public health. It also was a stark contrast with the views of a large majority of epidemiologists surveyed in the last two weeks by The New York Times.
In the informal survey, 80% said they thought Americans would need to wear masks in public indoor spaces for at least another year. Just 5% said people would be able to stop wearing masks indoors by this summer.
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