Lightfoot plans to keep wearing mask despite CDC guidance

Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Monday she plans to continue to wear a mask in public and “encourage others” to do the same, ignoring the CDC’s most recent guidance, which says fully-vaccinated people can ditch their masks both indoors and out.

During an interview Monday on MSNBC, Lightfoot joined the parade of public officials and comedians who have argued that the CDC’s quick about-face on masks raised more questions than it answered.

“I know for me personally — I’m gonna continue to wear a mask in public and I’m gonna encourage others to do so. We’ve got to make sure that people are continuing to follow the public health guidance that has gotten us this far. And masks, I think, are a big and important part of that,” she said.

“To say, ‘If you’re vaccinated, you don’t have to wear a mask,’ that’s great. But what about all of the other people who are out there that aren’t vaccinated? And there’s no way to know that. So I think for the time being, most people are gonna continue to wear masks outside of their homes. And I think that’s smart.”

Lightfoot urged the CDC to clear up the mask confusion that sparked a show-opening routine on Saturday Night Live this past weekend.

“We’ve got to get some clarification from the CDC. The roll-out obviously … was a bit abrupt. … They’ve got a lot of clarification that they need to do.”