The great mask debate appears to be over, even if the pandemic isn't. The unexpected ferocity of passions over the wearing of — or refusal to wear — masks in public produced countless tense, even violent confrontations over the past 14 months as the quest to save lives devolved bizarrely into political football. Against that backdrop, new guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says vaccinated Americans no longer need to wear a mask in most settings.

Local governments and big chain stores quickly dropped their mask requirements. Now a new question arises: Did the CDC drop its mask recommendations too soon?

Mask-wearing mandates, meant to prevent the spread of the coronavirus and avoid an overrun of hospitals, played right into election-year politics as the far right portrayed them as an attack on liberty. To most others, it was just the least Americans could do as responsible citizens.

Now lots of professionals are expressing qualms about the pace of America's de-masking. For one thing, the CDC's recommendation only applies to people who are fully vaccinated, which accounts for a paltry 37.7% of the U.S. population — including only 32.7% of Missourians. It seems unlikely that adults who continue to go unvaccinated will continue to abide by the honor system and wear their masks. The fact that they haven't gotten vaccinated makes clear they don't really care about anyone else's well-being.

In addition, why would they continue to wear their masks when vaccinated people are taking theirs off? Being masked could now be confused as an advertisement saying: Hey, look at me! I'm not safe to be around!

National Nurses United, the largest nurses union in the country, criticized the CDC's new guidance. "This is a huge blow to our efforts at confronting this virus and the pandemic," said Executive Director Bonnie Castillo. "The mask is another lifesaving layer of protection for workers." People are still dying from the virus, Castillo added.

Airlines are just starting to recover from the shutdown, but now they'll face a conundrum if they continue to enforce mask requirements — as they should, given how packed planes are these days. They were reporting rising incidents of confrontation between anti-mask passengers and flight crews even before the CDC announcement. Such confrontations promise only to get worse.

President Joe Biden, who called the CDC's announcement "a great day for America," also warned that infection rates may go up in states that still have low vaccination rates.

Science and scientists have done their jobs, having created safe and effective vaccines in record time. The vaccination campaign and widespread observance of precautionary measures — especially including masks — brought America to the safer place it is today. But no one should confuse the CDC announcement as signaling that America is back to normal. It most certainly isn't.

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