The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday that fully vaccinated people can safely gather together in small groups without masks, as long as everyone involved is at low risk for severe COVID-19. This is CDC Director Rochelle Walensky.

Dr. Rochelle Walensky: “With more and more people getting vaccinated each day, we are starting to turn a corner. And as more Americans are vaccinated, a growing body of evidence now tells us that there are some activities that fully vaccinated people can resume at low risk to themselves.”

The CDC is still advising against long-distance travel, even for fully vaccinated people. It’s not yet known how likely it is for vaccinated people to spread the coronavirus, perhaps as asymptomatic carriers. The new recommendation came as the number of U.S. residents who have received at least one dose of a vaccine reached 60 million.

Over 700 new COVID-19 deaths were reported across the U.S. Monday, pushing the U.S. death toll over the past year to more than 525,000. Tomorrow, Texas is set to end its statewide mask mandate. We’ll have more on that story later in the broadcast.