Delaware Drops Mask Mandate, Capacity Limits For Indoor Dining
WILMINGTON, Del. (CBS) -- The masks came off in Delaware on Friday. In keeping with U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines, fully vaccinated people are no longer required to wear a mask. Still, many Delawareans say they will part with their masks slowly.
It's a slow progression for many in Delaware to get back in some sense of normalcy, but some are proceeding with caution when it comes to shedding masks.
"I feel like I've been set free, loose," Vera Precha of Wilmington said. "I can walk, I can breathe without my mask."
Some maskless Delawareans are celebrating their newfound freedom. As of Friday, the state's mask mandate was lifted.
Delaware is following CDC guidelines advising that fully vaccinated people can stop wearing a mask in most places indoors and outdoors, except in crowded settings.
"It's nice that the masks are coming off, especially when you're outdoors and everything," Cathy Jenkins of Wilmington said. "But I'm still hesitant about being indoors, restaurants, food stores."
Some people said they're still easing out of their masks, still cautious about COVID-19 and its far-reaching effects on their lives.
"We had it run through our family and unfortunately a death and everything like that," Jenkins said. "He had it, my son had it, my mother ended up in the hospital. So, I'm just really very cautious."
"I still put my mask on, even when I go into a store anyway," Brian Frauhiger said of Wilmington said. "So, a mandate or not is not really going to make a difference. I'm still going to put that mask on because I'm so used to it."
"You're relying on the honor system for other people and even being vaccinated as we are, you still don't know what you're carrying and there's a lot of people who can't get vaccines because of health conditions or things," one man said. "It's courtesy and respect for other people."
Eyewitness News found more people without masks along the riverfront in Wilmington than those with them, a slow progression back into a sense of normalcy.
"Yeah, you don't want to get those weird tan lines," Ryan Eagan said.
As of Wednesday, as many as 40% of Delawareans were fully vaccinated.
