CDC 'looking at' reviewing outdoor mask necessity guidance

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said Thursday the agency will review COVID-19 guidelines about wearing masks outside and the possibility of easing the requirements.

"We'll be looking at the outdoor masking question, but also in the context of the fact that we still have people who are dying of Covid-19," Walensky told NBC News.

Some experts argue for easing outdoor mask restrictions, saying that the virus mostly spreads indoors.

"And there's very little transmission outdoors, except in some very specific circumstances," said Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health. "It's pretty reasonable to start thinking about peeling back outdoor mask mandates."

"Requiring everybody walking down the street to wear one is probably not needed," Jha said.

Some states have already nixed public mask mandates, such as New Hampshire, which lifted its mask mandate Wednesday.