Mask mandates are lifting in many states, but not everywhere

America’s patchwork of COVID restrictions has begun to look more like a crazy quilt.

Since a parade of blue-state governors began loosening restrictions last week in response to rapidly declining caseloads, more states and cities have since followed suit. But officials in some cities and school districts are keeping mandates in place, with rules varying county by county in some cases.

In California, state health authorities said Monday that while some pandemic restrictions would be lifted, schoolchildren would still be required to wear masks for at least another two weeks. And a mask mandate remains in effect in Los Angeles County.

In Virginia, Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, is expected to sign a bill that would make wearing masks in schools voluntary and require schools to offer in-person instruction.

Mask mandates in Rhode Island, Delaware and Nevada ended last week.

Restrictions are loosening despite the United States reporting about 2,400 deaths each day — more than at any point of the pandemic except last winter — and more than 150,000 new cases.

While the movement to ease restrictions began in swing states like Colorado, Pennsylvania and Michigan, its spread to some of the bluest states reflects a country entering a new political phase in the nearly two-year pandemic. Many indoor mask requirements have evolved, but vaccine mandates have largely remained unchanged.

Federal rules still require masks on all forms of public transportation and in transportation hubs, including in subway stations, bus terminals and airports, at least until March 18.

Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has said that it was too soon for Americans to take their masks off in indoor public places.

“Our hospitalizations are still high, our death rates are still high,” she said during a news briefing last week. “So, as we work toward that and as we are encouraged by the current trends, we are not there yet.”

As of Tuesday night, the authorities in over a dozen states and Washington, D.C., have changed their mask mandates in the past few weeks, with many of those decisions coming in the past several days.

Here’s a look at where other mandates have and haven’t changed: