Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced via Twitter on Friday that the state of Michigan would be updating its mask mandate in accordance with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s modification of its mask guidelines to say that fully vaccinated individuals do not need to wear a mask in most circumstances. Masks will also no longer be required for any individual outside.
According to the new guidelines, starting Saturday, May 15 at 9 a.m., all individuals who received their final COVID-19 vaccination dose more than two weeks ago will no longer be required to wear a mask in any setting, outdoors or indoors.
“This is a huge step in our path back to normal that we are able to take thanks to the vast majority of Michiganders who have gotten vaccinated and stepped up to protect their communities,” Whitmer said. “We thank you. We have safe and effective COVID vaccines.”
Whitmer said that the decision to drop the mandate was due to the success Michigan was seeing in both vaccine distribution and effectiveness throughout the last few months.
“Throughout this entire pandemic, our north star has been data and science from the CDC and our public health professionals, and we are going to continue to listen and trust the experts,” Whitmer said. “After months of getting out the damn vaccines, the data is clear: the COVID-19 vaccines are a miracle of modern science and they work to keep people safe from this deadly virus.”
Additionally, masks will no longer be required for everyone who is not vaccinated on July 1 according to a news release from the office of Gov. Whitmer.
In an email to The Michigan Daily, University spokeswoman Kim Broekhuizen wrote that the University of Michigan is carefully reviewing the new guidelines both from the state of Michigan and the CDC and will have more information in the coming days.
Summer News Editor George Weykamp and Daily Staff Reporter Kate Weiland can be reached at gweykamp@umich.edu and kmwblue@umich.edu