New York Governor Kathy Hochul is ending her state’s mask mandate for most indoor public places, The New York Times reported, joining several states due to lift face-covering rules as the latest COVID-19 surge eases.

With COVID-19 cases still high nationwide, “now is not the moment” to drop mask mandates in schools and other public places, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky told Reuters on February 8.

Officials in New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, California and Oregon said on Feb. 7 they will lift indoor mask mandates for schools and other public places in coming weeks, seeking a return to “normalcy” as soaring COVID-19 infections fueled by the Omicron variant abate.

An appeals court judge on Jan. 25 granted a stay in an appeal over mask mandates in New York, keeping the rule in effect during the legal process, New York Attorney General Letitia James said.

A New York judge struck down the state’s mask mandate on Jan. 24, one week before it was due to expire, ruling the governor overstepped her authority in imposing a rule that needed to have been passed by the state legislature.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Jan. 14 revised the CDC’s guidance for Americans on wearing masks to protect against COVID-19, recommending donning “the most protective mask you can” while stopping short of advocating nationwide usage of N95 respirators.

President Joe Biden took aim on Sept. 9 at vaccine resistance in America, announcing policies requiring most federal employees to get Covid-19 vaccinations and pushing large employers to have their workers inoculated or tested weekly.

In a scene replayed across the United States, angry parents and activists streamed into a meeting of the Florida’s Lake County school board on Sept. 2 where it considered whether to mandate mask-wearing for students and staff due to Covid.

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf on Aug. 31 issued a mask mandate for all K-12 school and child care facilities to protect against the spread of Covid-19, three weeks after the Democrat said he would leave the decision to individual districts.

Illinois will require all eligible students and school employees to be vaccinated and re-instituted an indoor mask mandate under an order announced by Governor J.B. Pritzker on Aug. 26.