Posted on 02/09/22
| News Source: i24
Officials in several states - New Jersey, California, Connecticut, Delaware and Oregon - announced on Monday that they were lifting mask mandates for schools and other public settings in the coming weeks.
The requirement that students, teachers and staff wear masks in schools will end in Massachusetts, the state's governor announced on Wednesday, joining the list of state leaders planning to lift the mandates.
Rules will end on February 28, Governor Charlie Baker stated at a news briefing, saying that the state had "far more tools available to us to deal with the pandemic than we had at the beginning," according to Reuters.
He noted that children are unlikely to get seriously sick from Covid and that his state has the nation's second-highest child vaccination rate.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul is expected to announce the end of her state's mask mandate for most indoor public places, according to the New York Times, who cited three individuals briefed on the move.
Hochul intends to let the mandate expire rather than seeking to renew it, the Times reported.
CBS news radio on Wednesday, however, reported that she intended to keep the school mask mandate in place for now due to low vaccination rates among young school-age children.
Representatives for the governor did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.