In a news conference on COVID-19, Governor Kathy Hochul (D-NY) announced she would be letting New York’s mask mandate for most indoor public settings expire. The mandate, which will expire Thursday, was put into effect back in December in response to the rapid spread of the Omicron variant throughout the United States.

“I believe this has made a huge difference,” Gov. Hochul said Wednesday. “At this time, we say that it’s the right decision to lift this mandate for indoor businesses and let counties, cities and businesses to make their own decisions on what they want to do with respect to mask or the vaccination requirement.”

For example, New York City still has a vaccine mandate for anyone in a workplace where there is more than one employee. The city also bans unvaccinated people from eating indoors at restaurants or entering theaters or other entertainment venues.

In addition to city and county mandates, state-regulated facilities will continue to require maps. These include:

• Health care facilities
• Nursing homes
• Correctional facilities
• Schools
• Childcare centers
• Homeless shelters
• Domestic violence shelters
• Bus and train stations

Hochul said the state will revisit the question of whether to continue requiring masks in schools the first week in March, after many children return to classrooms following planned winter breaks in late February. Millions of COVID-19 tests will be distributed to students upon their return. Data from those tests will help inform the state’s next steps.

“Keeping kids safe, keeping them in school, that’s still a priority,” Hochul said. “You know, it was just over the December holidays, right afterward you saw in places like Chicago, everybody’s saying, ‘It has to be remote. We have to stay remote.’ No, we were smart. We got test kits out to everybody.”

Hochul cited “declining cases” and “declining hospitalizations” as reasons she is letting the New York mask mandate expire. About 5,000 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized statewide as of Monday, down from a peak of nearly 12,700 on Jan. 11. However, it’s also double the amount of patients hospitalized Nov. 21.

“This fight is not over. We’re not surrendering. This is not disarmament. We’re going to continue to be adaptable and responsive to the changing circumstances,” Hochul said. “But again, the trends are very, very, very positive.