Will wearing masks outside soon be a thing of the past?

New mask guidance coming

Most people have become accustomed to wearing a mask outside - but all that could change soon.

BLACKSBURG, Va. - At this point in the pandemic, most of us have gotten used to wearing masks outside – but we might not have to for much longer.

The Biden administration is expected to issue new guidance about outdoor mask use as soon as Tuesday, and Linsey Marr, a Virginia Tech professor who is an expert on viral transmission, said there’s good reason why.

"Masks outside are needed only in specific situations," Marr explained Monday. "The virus, maybe it comes out of someone’s mouth and it really rapidly becomes diluted in the atmosphere, just like putting a drop of dye in the ocean."

Marr told FOX 5 she had been using what she calls "The Two Out of Three Rule" for the past year.

"Two out of the three of outdoors, mask, and distance. Make sure I’m doing at least two of those things at all times," she explained. But now, especially with so many people having gotten the vaccine, she said things have changed. "If I’m having a face to face conversation with someone outdoors, and I don’t know their vaccine status, I’ll still wear a mask, but otherwise, I’m not gonna worry about it so much."

People who spoke to FOX 5 along the Mt. Vernon Trail in Alexandria Monday said rolling-back restrictions sounds like a good idea to them, at least to a point.

"It’s ok to start rolling them back, but I wouldn’t want them to go away all together," Carri Peters said.

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Added Jim McDonough, "I think it’s time to, you know, start enjoying life a little bit more."

Marr did say that if you’re unvaccinated or in a vulnerable category, you may want to continue wearing a mask while outdoors and around people.