Ditching the mask won't be easy for everyone, experts say

Malik Muhammad, a clinic psychologist at North Carolina Central University, said it will be difficult even for vaccinated people to stop wearing masks.

"There was almost this feeling of guilt if I don’t put on this mask, like I’m doing something wrong," Muhammad said. "And that’s going to be tricky to navigate."

People are accustomed to wearing masks, he said, and some feel it's in the best interest of public health to continue doing so. Muhammad believes public perception will play a large role in whether or not people continue to mask.

"Do I look like some rogue agent without a mask on?" he said.

Immunocompromised people aren't ready to get vaccinated, drop the mask yet

Muhammad believes that there will be a gradual shift to not wearing masks.

"Because of the gradual transition, it’ll give us all time to acclimate to people not having masks on," he said.

Masks will still be required in schools, child care facilities, public transportation, prisons and long-term care facilities.

"There's absolutely nothing wrong with an individual who has a certain level for risk aversion," he said. "As we know the risk is extremely low of getting infected if you're vaccinated, whether you're indoors or outdoors, but there are those people who don't want to take that bit of a risk, and there's nothing wrong with that and they shouldn't be criticized."

NC students, educators no longer required to wear face masks when outside during school

More than half of North Carolina adults have had at least one shot of COVID-19 vaccine. By Thursday, the state had administered more than 7.4 million vaccines. More than 43% of those 18 and over are fully vaccinated. That rises to 74% of the population over 65 years of age.

Dr. Cameron Wolfe, an infectious disease specialist at Duke University Hospital, says it's critical that unvaccinated people either get the shot, or wear the mask.

"It puts the onus back on individuals to make smart decisions and to make responsible and community-based decisions, and we have not always done a great job with that in the last 12 months," he said.

Wolfe said that people currently in hospital or dying with COVID “are overwhelmingly now the unvaccinated.”

"It's not rocket science anymore for people to know what’s right," he said.

Both Muhammad and Wolfe said they do plan to keep wearing their masks. Wolfe said he got vaccinated months ago now and it's not clear for how long it will be effective.