Mask Mandates, Global Cases and Vaccine News: Live Updates

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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 who are 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 the behind-the-scenes effort is crashing into the public reality of 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. But she 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 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.”

The Massachusetts school mask mandate will end on Feb. 28, Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican, said. Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York, also a Democrat, also announced that her state’s move to end its mask-or-vaccination indoor mandate will take effect this week, but has said she needs more time to make a decision on masks in schools.

The governor of Rhode Island, also a Democrat, announced Wednesday that state’s indoor mask mandate will end Friday. He also announced plans to lift the masking requirement in schools on March 4 and leave it up to districts afterward.

In California, officials announced Monday that the state will end a universal indoor mask mandate next week, and are reviewing the mask mandate for schools.

Ms. Hochul said New York State has improved dramatically since the Omicron surge and the time had come to end its mandate requiring proof of full vaccination or mask-wearing in indoor public spaces.

“Numbers are coming down, and it is time to adapt,” she said.

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…