New Hampshire lifts mask mandate

New Hampshire’s veil command terminated on Friday after the state’s lead representative declared in a tweet on Thursday that it would not be recharged. Gov. Chris Sununu said the choice was made as the state’s pace of infection related hospitalizations stays stable, inoculation endeavors increment and COVID-19 passings keep on declining.

“This mandate going away will not limit or prevent the ability of private business or cities and towns from requiring masks, as was the case before,” Sununu further explained. “New Hampshire residents know how to keep ourselves and our neighbors safe without a state mandate – just as we did before the winter surge,” Sununu said.

New Hampshire was the last state in New England to adopt a statewide mask mandate in November and with the latest change, will be the first to lift it.

“Everyone is really doing their part to stare down COVID,” Sununu said. “The pandemic is not over, and we’re not declaring victory by any means on any of this, but our successes to date have created opportunity,” Sununu further added.

On April 6 Sununu himself received the COVID-19 Johnson & Johnson vaccination dose. He received the dose before the  federal officials recommended a pause in Johnson & Johnson’s rollout due to concern about rare but severe blood clots in six out of tens of millions of recipients.

The White House has repeatedly said the pause will not impact the national rollout plan, citing a surplus of Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 198 million vaccines have been administered so far, just shy of President’s Biden target of reaching 200 million by April 28.

New Hampshire’s mask mandate started in November after a spike in COVID-19 cases and expired Friday. It required people to wear one in public when they can’t stay away from others.

Also on Monday, schools in New Hampshire will return to full-time, in-person instruction five days a week.