Soon only one U.S. state will still have an indoor mask mandate

The use of a face mask is becoming more and more optional as the rules of the pandemic are reduced to much of the United States, the most visible change in the way millions of Americans today see the threat of COVID-19[feminine[feminine.

All states except Hawaii are abandoning or planning to eliminate mask mandates as the rise in Omicron decreases, with a decrease in infections and hospitalizations, although the disease continues to kill about 2,000. Americans a day. California, Nevada and New Mexico are among the states that ruled out mask mandates this month. The return to a pre-pandemic appearance of life also includes some in the country the main employerswith other companies even further and elimination of vaccination requirements for workers.

“I think people are more comfortable, so even when we had the mask requirement, people still came out, but I think it makes a big difference,” said Javier Amaro, a salesman in Las Cruces, New Mexico. to a CBS affiliate.

New York and Rhode Island this month lifted the rules for indoor masks for businesses, but are still demanding them in schools. Illinois, Oregon, Washington and Washington, DC, plan to let mask requirements expire in late March. An order for school masks in Massachusetts will expire in late February.

Not everyone is happy.

“I’m pretty uncomfortable with that,” Massachusetts mother Kerry Arouca said after her state announcement, according to the Associated Press. “I think until we get a better handle on COVID-19, the kids should do their best to keep the masks on, maybe some masks will break on the outside until everyone is vaccinated.”

In West Baton Rouge, Louisiana, a school district stopped requiring masks in late October. “Just knowing the pulse of our community, they were prepared for it,” said Wesley Watts, the district superintendent.

Masks are also optional in a school district in Vienna, Illinois, following a judge’s ruling overturning a state warrant. “We’ve been on this issue for two years. So we have some data, we have a history of trends, we have some things we can look at,” said Joshua Stafford, the district’s superintendent.

“On the other side of this coin, you also have those who suffer from autoimmune disorders, other extenuating health circumstances, and that has to be weighed in the balance of this global pandemic,” Stafford said. It’s an easy decision. ” “

Not ready to unmask

For Hawaii Gov. David Ige, the decision to adhere to the state’s mask rules was easier. Hawaii has the second-lowest mortality rate in the country for COVID-19 “in part because of the inside mask warrant,” Ige told local news station KITV.

Puerto Rico is also taking a more cautious approach, as the U.S. territory has no immediate plans to lift a mask warrant.

“We are currently seeing a steady decline in positivity rate and hospitalization statistics, which gives us a better picture,” Governor Pedro Pierluisi said in a statement last week. “However, it is not yet time to lower our guard; we must continue to protect ourselves from this virus and maintain the necessary precautions.”

California recently lifted its mandate, which began in mid-December to reduce the impact of the Omicron variant, but left the option of stricter rules to local health departments. In Los Angeles County, residents will soon be able to go without a mask as long as they show vaccination tests indoors.

It looks like the new rules will allow “vaccinated people to take off their masks indoors at vaccination test sites,” LA County Supervisor Janice Hahn tweeted Tuesday. “This puts us much closer to aligning with the state,” he added.

LA County is rare in California that still requires people to wear masks in indoor public settings, regardless of whether they have been vaccinated. And while states relax the rules on face-to-face coverage, unvaccinated people still have to wear them in some indoor settings and places such as nursing homes, public transportation, and some schools.

The LA Unified School District on Tuesday left open-air mask requirements on all campuses in the district, but not all children followed suit, as many could be seen wearing masks outside.

“I think everyone got used to the masks,” student Andrez Mendoza told a local CBS affiliate. “During the physical education, which I just did, the teacher said we could take off our masks, and no one did.”

This reluctance to unmask seems to be shared by a significant number of New Yorkers, at least when contemplating interior spaces. Nearly two weeks after Governor Kathy Hochul’s term expired as the state’s inner mask, a poll found that many residents of the state thought Hochul should have continued with the requirement.

“There is no clear consensus on the requirement for masks in indoor public spaces,” Siena College pollster Steven Greenberg said in a statement on the results of the survey. “Still, a plurality of voters, 45%, say the mandate of the inner mask should be maintained.”

The CDC is holding on, for now

The federal government also maintains mask regulations. The Transportation Security Administration is expected to extend the flight and airport mask requirements, which now expire on March 18, the CWA Flight Assistants Association, which represents 50,000 attendees, told Bloomberg News flight of 20 airlines.

However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention noted last week that it could soon ease its mask guide and look at hospitalizations to see if masks are needed. As things stand, the CDC guidelines recommend that people wear masks indoors in areas with substantial or high transmission, which currently covers almost the entire country.

“As we consider future metrics, which will be updated soon, we recognize the importance not only of cases, which continue to lead to substantial or elevated community transmission in more than 97% of our counties in the country, but of medically serious illnesses. leading to hospitalizations, “CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said at a White House briefing last week. “We need to consider hospital capacity as an additional important barometer.”

“We want to give people a break from things like wearing a mask, when those metrics are better, and then have the ability to look at them again if things get worse,” the doctor added.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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