Mask mandates continue to fall as Fauci says U.S. may be approaching ‘normality’

 

Mask mandates continued to fall in traditionally cautious blue states Wednesday as the number of U.S. coronavirus cases plunged, covid-19 hospitalizations dropped below 100,000 and the government’s chief medical adviser, Anthony S. Fauci, said the country is “on the road to approaching normality.”

In New York, Illinois and Rhode Island, governors said they would soon end requirements that adults wear face coverings in public indoor places and some, including Massachusetts, promised children would no longer have to wear them in school.

“This is what we’ve been waiting for — tremendous progress after two long years,” said Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) of New York, where the mask mandate will expire Thursday, but the school requirement will remain until at least early March. “And we’re not done. But this is trending in a very, very good direction, and that is why we are now approaching a new phase in this pandemic.”

But the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and some independent experts remained more wary. They tried to slow the gathering momentum to move on from a crisis that has killed more than 900,000 people in the United States and disrupted life around the globe for more than two years.

“We continue to recommend masking in areas of high and substantial transmission,” CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said at a White House briefing on the pandemic, where she noted the seven-day average of new infections, while plummeting, is still more than 247,000 each day. “That’s much of the country right now, in public indoor settings.”

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Americans living in states that have pulled back their mask mandates should still follow CDC guidelines.

Taken together, Wednesday’s events were another unusual moment in the once-in-a-century public health crisis: A weary public and eager elected officials largely ignoring the advice of the health professionals who had guided them to this point.

California, Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Oregon and Delaware also have dropped mask mandates in recent days. In some cases, officials said local authorities would be making future decisions on when to mask.

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