New York, Massachusetts and Illinois join the growing number of states relaxing the mask mandate

New York, Illinois and Massachusetts joined the states on Wednesday that will eliminate the mask mandate, after coronavirus infections fell by half in the last week across the country and hospitalizations dropped by 100,000 for the first time in more than a month. .

However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have reiterated that it is still necessary to wear face masks, and the White House urged caution: the US seems to be leaving the worst of the pandemic behind, but more than 61,000 people could die from COVID-19 in the next four weeks.

The Governor of

, Democrat Kathy Hochul, announced on Wednesday the end of the mask mandate in most closed public spaces, such as stores and offices.

The "tremendous progress" in the decrease in cases allows, he said, to move on to a "new phase."

Hospitalizations fell 63% in one month, which he said helped end the mandate he put in place in mid-December and was set to expire on Thursday.

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However, the mask mandate will not be completely removed, and will remain mandatory in schools.

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Massachusetts will end the mask mandate in schools as of February 28, Republican Governor Charlie Baker announced on Wednesday.

States like California, New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, and Oregon are removing mask mandates in public spaces and schools.

This Wednesday will also Illinois.

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But the Government insists that we must not lower our guard.

White House COVID-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients said Wednesday that fighting the omicron coronavirus surge remains "priority number one."

“The president has been clear in saying that we are moving towards a time when COVID-19 will not disrupt our daily lives [...].

To do this, we will rely on the powerful set of tools that have been developed: the vaccines, the booster shots, the treatments, and the tests,” he assured.

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Zients noted that the number of cases is down almost 65% in the last three weeks and hospitalizations are down 40%.

For his part, Anthony Fauci, the White House's top infectious disease expert, insisted on the need to get the booster vaccine to "avoid hospitalizations" and "save his life" despite the fact that the US is coming out of the worst of the pandemic.

Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the CDC, said Tuesday that the United States is not in a position to give up masks against COVID-19.

"Right now, we still have about 290,000 cases a day and our hospitalization rates are now higher than the peak caused by the delta variant," she said in an interview with broadcaster WYPR.

With information from The Associated Press and