The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that most Americans are living in places where healthy people can now safely stop wearing masks.

Since coming out of the holiday surge, COVID-19 infection rates have gone down significantly.

In December of 2021, cases climbed over 700,000 infections in New York City. More than half of those cases have dropped this month.

These low numbers have led the city to decide that public schools will no longer require masks outdoors of school campuses starting on Monday.

Mayor Eric Adams stated the city’s team of doctors and health experts are examining the CDC guidelines and will not make any premature decisions to jeopardize the city's recovery.

The CDC stated more than half of the nation's counties are at low or medium risk for COVID-19, meaning masks are no longer necessary. It says those counties account for 70% of people in the country.

However, those who test positive, have symptoms or were exposed to someone with COVID-19 are still advised to wear a mask regardless of vaccination status.