New York state will end a mandate requiring face coverings in most indoor public settings but will keep school masking rules in place, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Wednesday.
New York is the latest in a long line of states to roll back mask mandates amid a decline in daily infection and hospitalization numbers. Still, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday that it’s too early for the agency to drop its nationwide mask recommendations.
“We are prepared, we are working on that guidance, we are working on following the trends for the moment,” she said. “Our hospitalizations are still high, our death rates are still high… We are encouraged by the current trends (but) we’re not there yet.”
In New York, the mandate requiring face coverings in public places such as grocery stores, shops and offices, was put in place Dec. 10 amid the surge of omicron variant infections. It was set to expire Thursday unless the Hochul, a Democrat, extended it.
“Given the declining cases, given the declining hospitalizations, that is why we feel comfortable to lift this, in effect tomorrow,” Hochul said.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker today is also expected to join the ranks of fellow Democratic governors in rescinding some indoor mask mandates as COVID-19 cases drop rapidly across the United States.
“I think I’ve said over the last few press conferences that I really believe that we ought to be looking seriously at how to ratchet that back,” Pritzker said of his mask mandates at a news conference Tuesday. “I think we’re going to be making announcements very soon about that.”
Across the country, indoor mask requirements in blue states are falling like dominoes: Delaware’s indoor mask mandate will end Feb. 11; Oregon is lifting its requirements by March 31; California’s will be up by Feb. 16. Oregon and Delaware also both announced plans to lift masking in schools this week, as did New Jersey and Connecticut.
Meanwhile, a growing chorus of doctors and parents are specifically calling for an end to school mask mandates. Some point to increasing access to vaccinations for children and declining COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths. Another group argues long-term masking puts an outsize burden on kids and impacts their mental health and possibly their development.
“You cannot sustain a red-alert, all-hands-on-deck, emergency kind of response indefinitely,” said Dr. Shira Doron, an infectious disease physician and hospital epidemiologist at Tufts Medical Center in Boston. “People just can’t be on high alert like that without fatigue, without breaking.” Read more here.
Also in the news:
► Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Wednesday announced plans to extend restrictions for Tokyo and 12 other areas three weeks until early March. Omicron infections show little signs of slowing and most Japanese still lack booster shots.
► Utah will no longer offer residents rapid COVID-19 tests after an analysis showed one brand of nasal swabs used at state mobile clinics often yielded false negatives.
► Johnson & Johnson shut down its only plant making usable batches of its COVID vaccine, although the pharmaceutical company says it has millions of doses in inventory, the New York Times reported.
📈 Today’s numbers: The U.S. has recorded more than 77 million confirmed COVID-19 cases and more than 909,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. Global totals: More than 401.5 million cases and over 5.7 million deaths. More than 213 million Americans – 64.2% – are fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
📘 What we’re reading: Heavy demand for coronavirus testing attracted lab operators who benefited from a narrow regulatory loophole while collecting millions in federal funds. USA TODAY’s Ken Alltucker and Grace Hauck explain.
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Infections, hospitalizations decline sharply; daily deaths rise
New infections fell 44% over the last week and hospitalizations fell by 25% as the omicron surge appeared to be ebbing, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday. Dr. Rochelle Walensky, speaking with Dr. Anthony Fauci and others at a White House briefing, said daily new cases averaged almost 250,000 per day while hospital admissions averaged 13,000.
Deaths, however, rose 3%, averaging about 2,400 per day, she said. Death totals generally lag a few weeks behind other data from the pandemic.
Walensky and others at the briefing stressed the importance and effectiveness of booster shots. More than 90 million boosters shots have been administered, including about two-thirds of all eligible adults, officials said.
“I know there will come a time when we move from a phase of crisis to a time when COVID-19 is not disrupting our daily lives,” Walensky said. “I am confident that CDC and our public health partners will lead the way.”
Florida surgeon general won’t say whether he’s vaccinated
Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, questioned at a contentious confirmation hearing where Democrats urged him to promote the shots, refused to disclose whether he has been vaccinated. Ladapo was appointed in September by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, and the two share a disdain for COVID-19 vaccine mandates and other health policies embraced by the federal government.
“I personally believe that people can make … decisions that they’re more comfortable with if elements like coercion or misrepresentation of data or hiding of data are not part of the process,” Lapado told lawmakers.
Republicans in the Senate Committee on Ethics and Elections eventually approved Ladapo’s confirmation, which now goes to the state Senate.
Pandemic reaches new heights in Hong Kong
Hong Kong surpassed 1,000 confirmed coronavirus infections in one day for the first time since the pandemic began – and recorded its first two deaths in six months. Health authorities announced that recovered COVID patients no longer needed to wait 10 days to be discharged from overwhelmed hospitals.
“We appeal to those who test preliminary-positive to stay at home patiently, as they might have to wait for a few days before being admitted to a hospital,” said Dr Larry Lee Lap-yip, a chief manager at the Hospital Authority.
Britain to eliminate last restrictions soon
Britain’s last remaining COVID restrictions could be gone by month’s end, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said. The last major rule, mandatory self-isolation of at least five days after testing positive, had been scheduled to expire March 24. Johnson said the domestic rules would end early if positive data trends continue.
Face masks are no longer mandatory anywhere in England, except on London’s public transport network. Virus passports for gaining entry to nightclubs and large-scale events were scrapped, as was the official advice to work from home. In Britain, 65.4% of those 12 and over have had a booster vaccine, and 84.5% have been fully vaccinated.
WHO: New infections down 17% in last week, deaths also decline
The World Health Organization says reported coronavirus infections fell 17% worldwide over the last week compared to the previous week, including a 50% drop in the United States. Deaths globally declined 7%. The weekly report from the U.N. health agency shows the omicron variant makes up nearly 97% of all cases tallied by the international virus-tracking platform known as GISAID. Just over 3% were of the delta variant.
“The prevalence of the omicron variant has increased globally and is now detected in almost all countries,” WHO said. “However, many of the countries which reported an early rise in the number of cases due to the omicron variant have now reported a decline in the total number of new cases.”
You’re more likely to die from COVID in the US than other wealthy nations
Although the omicron variant of the coronavirus appears less likely to cause severe disease compared to previous dominating strains, the U.S. is still experiencing more COVID-19 deaths than at any other point in the pandemic.
The U.S. case fatality rate – the ratio between confirmed deaths and confirmed cases – has decreased from 1.63% since the height of the delta wave on Sept. 1 to 1.18% as of Feb. 6, according to Our World in Data.
But while the country’s case fatality rate during the delta wave was below other high income countries, it’s now among the highest. Health experts worry the U.S. may be falling behind compared to the progress against the virus made by other countries.
“Overall, there are fewer deaths per infection that are occurring, even in the U.S., but the numbers aren’t as good as we’ve seen in other parts of the world,” said Andrew Pekosz, a virologist and professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Low vaccination and booster rates, lack of testing and consequences from the an imperfect health system have stunted U.S. progress in the pandemic leading to more COVID-19 deaths and a higher case fatality rate, health experts say. Read more here.
– Adrianna Rodriguez, USA TODAY
Contributing: Grace Hauck, USA TODAY; The Associated Press
