The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has relaxed COVID-19 guidelines for fully-vaccinated Americans.

The health agency now says that if you are fully vaccinated, you can resume activities that you did prior to the pandemic without wearing a mask or physically distancing. Exceptions exist when required by federal, state, local, workplace or business rules.

The change comes as more Americans have been getting innoculated. Vaccines have proven to be highly effective at preventing COVID-19 infections and serious side effects, up to 94 percent according to the latest CDC data.

Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine has been authorized for use in children ages 12-15. It was originally authorized for people age 18 and older, and was later OK'd for people ages 16-17. The CDC reported Tuesday that 600,000 children ages 12-15 had received their first doses of the two-shot vaccine.

• O'Brien County positivity rate hits goose egg

There won't be a tickertape parade, but O'Brien County marked an impressive milestone during the past week.

The state's COVID-19 data website on Tuesday night reported a 0 percent COVID-19 positivity rate over the past seven days. It wasn't a true zero, though – O'Brien County did report two new coronavirus cases during that timeframe, but the Iowa Department of Public Health rounded down for the goose egg. The county was one of 11 in Iowa reporting 0 percent positivity rates. Only Des Moines County in southeast Iowa reported double-digit positivity rates, logging in at 10 percent.

Clay County's positivity rate was at 3 percent Tuesday, up from 2 percent the week before. It reported six new COVID-19 cases between May 11-18. Statewide, the positivity rate was down from 3.4 percent to 2.9 percent over that same time period.

Confirmed infections since the pandemic began tallied 2,149 in O'Brien County, 2,266 in Clay County and 400,025 statewide. Recoveries in that same order were 1,916, 2,100 and 355,600.

Coronavirus-related deaths remained unchanged in O'Brien County at 60. Clay County's was up one to 26, and statewide fatalities jumped from 5,989 last week to 6,013 this week.

The number of completed COVID-19 vaccinations in Iowa continued to rise. As of Tuesday evening, 1,275,754 Iowans had either received their second shot of the two-dose vaccine or the one-dose shot. That figure was up from 1,204,715 the previous week. According to the state data, 174,914 Iowans had received one dose of either the two-shot Moderna or Pfizer vaccines.

Locally, Clay County had initiated 634 vaccine series and completed 7,281, while O'Brien County had initiated 356 series and completed 4,675. O'Brien County and Clay County had administered 264 and 133 doses, respectively, of the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

As of Sunday, there were 142 coronavirus-related hospitalizations in Iowa, which was down from 163 the previous week. Neither O'Brien County nor Clay County reported any hospitalizations.