Many vaccinated Americans started tentatively shedding their masks this week, a major break from behavior they were conditioned to exhibit for more than a year to help curb the coronavirus pandemic, Reuters reports.

Beyond their disease prevention benefits, masks in the United States have become symbols of political views and morality. Those associations have made it harder for some people to take off their masks, despite the developing scientific guidance.

Interviews with more than a dozen people in and around the nation's capital revealed a variety of reasons why some Americans are reluctant to remove their masks — or never felt compelled to wear them outside in the first place.

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