NIH Director Issues Clarification: Parents Don’t Have to Wear Masks at Home Around Children

Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, appears before a Senate hearing to discuss vaccines, in Washington, on Sept. 9, 2020. Michael Reynolds/Pool/Getty Images

Update: NIH Francis Collins walked back his statement to CNN about parents wearing masks around children at home.

“Let me clarify the masking message that I garbled on @NewDay this morning. Vaccinated parents who live in communities with high COVID transmission rates should mask when out in public indoor settings to minimize risks to their unvaccinated kids. No need to mask at home,” he wrote on Twitter later on Tuesday.