How Can You Tell Who Is Vaccinated? New CDC Guidance Relies on Trust

The U.S. saw its first weekend after the CDC eased mask-wearing guidance for fully vaccinated people.

“Welcome to New Orleans...straight from San Antonio Texas.”

But the new guidance also opened the door to confusion, since there is no surefire way for businesses to tell who has been vaccinated and who has not.

CDC Director Rochelle Walensky was pressed on that on Sunday.

"What is a business supposed to do, when somebody walks in without a mask," Chuck Todd said. "Assume that they are abiding by the rules?"

"We are asking people to be honest with themselves," Walensky said. "If they are vaccinated and they are not wearing a mask, they are safe. If they are not vaccinated and they're not wearing a mask, they are not safe.”

"Who is supposed to be the vaccination police?" Martha Raddatz said. "You look at Costco and Walmart, these essential works, what are they supposed to do? There, again, there's a quarter of the country who said they will not get vaccinated."

"We are asking people to take their health into their own hands," Walensky said. "To get vaccinated, and if they don't then they continue to be at risk. For the unvaccinated, our policy has not changed.”

Local and state governments can issue their own rules but the CDC mask guidance says fully vaccinated people largely do not need to wear masks indoors or out. 

Some health experts are expecting most Americans...vaccinated or not...will be tossing aside their masks. That puts unvaccinated people at risk of COVID.

It’s a cheating of the system that many are expecting...including this visitor to New Orleans.

"I think it's going to be largely just self-compliance, and if people want to be dishonest about the situation, that's unfortunately their prerogative," visitor Alex Bodell said. "... And then if people want to be dishonest about the situation, it's not good, but I don't know if we can actually enforce rules to really do anything about that."

Dr. Anthony Fauci is hoping the CDC guidance leads to more vaccinations.

"When you get vaccinated you not only protect your own health and that of the family but you contribute to the community health by preventing the spread of the virus throughout the community," Fauci said.