To mask or not to mask: That is the question for vaccinated people as the delta variant surges.

Here, these roller-coaster riders mask up at Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, Calif.

To mask or not to mask: That is the question for vaccinated people as the delta variant surges.

Here, these roller-coaster riders mask up at Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, Calif.

I'm hearing nurses and public health experts advising people to mask up again because of the delta variant.

If you hung your mask up after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said face coverings were no longer necessary for vaccinated people, you're probably not eager to start masking up again every time you leave the house?

Yet part of the recent rise in hospitalizations is probably due to people no longer wearing masks at the appropriate time, says Charlotte Baker, assistant professor of epidemiology at Virginia Tech?

That leaves many questions, and people are looking for guidance in specific situations: Do I really need to mask up at the grocery store.

On the flip side, when you're sure everyone else is vaccinated, experts agree the risk is so low there's no need to mask.

And if you have just a garden-variety cold or flu and have to go out, wear a mask for the health of everyone around you.

However, keep your eye on that rate as cases start rising again due to that delta variant, says Stanford infectious disease fellow Abraar Karan.

If you live with unvaccinated people (including children) or with people 65 and older or anyone else especially susceptible to the virus, wearing a mask could reduce your risk of developing a rare breakthrough infection and passing it on to them?

"If you live in a high-risk area, and with vulnerable elderly folks who haven't been vaccinated or even if they have, I would recommend masking up indoors in close spaces until we have more data about the necessity for boosters [for older adults and other vulnerable populations]," Karan says?

If you're shoulder to shoulder with people, it's prudent to wear a mask depending on how long you're there and especially if you're in a higher prevalence area, Chu says.

"I would wear a mask," she says