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Illinois to End Indoor Mask Requirements, Except for Schools
Gov. J.B. Pritzker of Illinois announced that the state’s mask mandate for most indoor settings would be lifted on Feb. 28, though requirements would remain in place for schools.
Vaccines work. Masks work. And as a result of them and the tremendous commitment of our state’s residents, we are on track to come out on the other side of this latest Covid storm in better shape than even the doctors expected. If these trends continue and we expect them to, then on Monday, Feb. 28, we will lift the indoor mask requirement for the state of Illinois. The equation for schools just looks different right now than it does for the general population. Schools need a little more time. Protecting everyone in a school community, their education and their health is our highest priority. In the coming weeks, it’s my hope and expectation that we will continue making progress to a place where we can remove school masking requirements and keep kids in schools.
From Massachusetts to New York to Illinois, states were rapidly lifting mask mandates Wednesday as the Omicron wave recedes and governors come under intense pressure from Americans exhausted by the pandemic.
Those states and Rhode Island joined a growing list that included California and Oregon, places that once enforced strict protocols but are now shifting as case numbers plummet and polling shows bipartisan pandemic fatigue. The moves will step up the pressure on the Biden administration, and in particular on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to offer new guidance to the states on mask wearing and other mitigation measures.
The White House has been quietly meeting with outside health experts to plan a pandemic exit strategy and a transition to a “new normal.” But blue-state governors have gotten ahead of President Biden by suddenly abandoning their mask mandates.
“We are working on that guidance; we are working on following the trends for the moment,” the C.D.C.’s director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, said at a briefing on Wednesday at which she also cautioned: “Our hospitalizations are still high, our death rates are still high. So, as we work toward that and as we are encouraged by the current trends, we are not there yet.”
The governor of Illinois, Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a Democrat, said Wednesday that the statewide indoor mask requirement there would be lifted on Feb. 28. But he held off on changing the rule for schools.
“Protecting everyone in a school community, their education and their health is our highest priority in the coming weeks,” he said at a news conference. “It’s my hope and expectation that we will continue making progress to a place where we can remove school masking requirements and keep kids in schools.”
A school mask mandate in Massachusetts will end on Feb. 28, Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican, said. Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York, a Democrat, announced that a statewide mandate requiring masks or proof of full vaccination indoors would end this week, but has said she needs more time to make a decision on masks in schools.
The governor of Rhode Island, a Democrat, announced on Wednesday that state’s mask or proof-of-full-vaccination requirement indoors would end on Friday. He also announced plans to lift a masking requirement in schools on March 4 and leave it up to districts afterward.
In California, officials announced on Monday that the state would end a universal indoor mask mandate next week, and said they were reviewing the mask mandate for schools.
The moves herald a new phase of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States, where regions that have taken a cautious approach for two years are relaxing their guard as the highly transmissible Omicron variant recedes. Nationally, new cases are plummeting but remain extremely high, with an average of more than 240,000 reported each day, just below the levels of last winter’s peak. Covid hospitalizations also remain high, at over 100,000, and daily Covid deaths are at about 2,500.
Other recent moves to ease mask mandates have come from Democratic governors in states like New Jersey, Connecticut and Oregon.
Gov. John Carney of Delaware, a Democrat, rescinded his state’s general indoor mask mandate this week, but extended it for schools until the end of March.
The moves by governors come amid growing public exhaustion with pandemic restrictions. But there is no consensus among public health experts about whether ending mask mandates now is wise or premature.
In-school transmission of the virus has occurred on only a limited scale throughout the pandemic. While the C.D.C. continues to recommend universal mask-wearing in schools, many independent public health experts now say that masks can hinder learning and socialization, and provide little benefit in regions where infection rates are relatively low and vaccination rates are relatively high.
Asked about mask mandates at a Wednesday news conference, Jen Psaki, President Biden’s press secretary, said the president remained committed to listening to guidance from scientists.
“Listen to data,” she said. “That doesn’t move at the speed of politics. It moves at the speed of data.”
Some states and territories, including New Mexico and Hawaii, have not announced plans to ease their current mask requirements.
In California, Massachusetts and other blue states, local communities and school districts can often follow their own policies. In Boston, education officials said the public school district had no plans to end its mask requirement anytime soon, though the Archdiocese of Boston said it would stop requiring its parochial school students to wear masks. Denver Public Schools said on Wednesday that masks would no longer be required beginning Feb. 28.
Los Angeles County officials said Tuesday that it would keep its indoor mask mandate for now, while in the San Francisco Bay Area, 11 counties announced they would drop their indoor mask mandates in most public settings.
No changes have been announced in New York City, which does not have a citywide universal mask mandate. Masks are required on mass transit, and in health care, congregate care and child care settings. Unvaccinated people must wear masks whenever they are in a public space, according to city regulations. Many businesses, including most theaters, require masks, too.
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Massachusetts Lifting School Mask Mandate at End of February
Gov. Charlie Baker announced that Massachusetts will drop its statewide school mask mandate on Feb. 28, though local school districts would be allowed to follow their own policies.
Given the extremely low risk for young people, the widespread availability and the proven effectiveness of vaccines, and the distribution of accurate test protocols and tests, it’s time to give our kids a sense of normalcy and lift the mask mandate on a statewide basis for schools. Covid, like many other respiratory diseases that we’re familiar with, will be with us for the foreseeable future. Thankfully, the advances in vaccines, treatments and testing are mitigating the harm that’s caused by Covid. Those advances and the hard work of so many parents, educators and kids here in Massachusetts make it possible to give our kids what they have earned — the familiar, welcoming, nurturing classroom that they’re used to. We understand many students will continue to wear masks going forward for a number of reasons, and we fully support those individual decisions and we would urge everyone in K-12 education to do the same. And we want to help schools make kids who make that decision feel comfortable doing so.
In Massachusetts, Governor Baker said that the state would support individuals who continue to choose to wear masks in schools, and that they should feel comfortable doing so. He also said that new masking guidelines for child care centers would be in line with those for K-12 schools, although vaccines are not yet available for children under 5.
Amelia Nierenberg and Sharon Otterman contributed reporting.