Samuel Case, FISM News
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Hawaii Governor David Ige announced on Tuesday that the state’s indoor mask mandate will end on March 25. Hawaii is the final state to end indoor masking.
Hawaiʻi’s indoor statewide mask mandate will expire on March 25 at 11:59 PM when the current emergency proclamation relating to COVID-19 ends. It’s taken the entire community to get to this point – with lowered case counts and hospitalizations.
— Office of the Governor, State of Hawai`i (@GovHawaii) March 8, 2022
Ige gave his reasoning for the reason to nix the mandate, tweeting, “We’re also better at treating people who are infected, have boosters, & the CDC rates our COVID19 community level ‘low.’ This is all promising.”
However, the governor indicated that masks may come back in the future: “We’ve seen variants wipe out previous progress. If we see another surge, we will be ready to reinstitute the mask policy, if needed.”
“I want to once again thank everyone for their hard work and commitment to keeping our community safe. I know this is a milestone many have been waiting for,” Ige added in his Twitter thread.
The Hawaii Department of Education announced that students, teachers, and faculty will no longer be required to wear masks outside on school property, however masks will still be required inside school buildings.
The Hawaii State Department of Health said that masks are still recommended in “schools, hospitals and health care facilities, long term care facilities, shelters, correctional facilities, and other congregate living settings.”
The statewide indoor mask requirement will end when Governor Ige's current COVID-19 emergency proclamation expires at 11:59 P.M. on March 25.
The CDC rates the state’s COVID-19 community level as “low”.
Track CDC community levels: https://t.co/GAdIsIrtuY pic.twitter.com/coQoI8wVuz
— Hawaiʻi State Department of Health (@HawaiiDOH) March 9, 2022