Hawaii, the last state to join the union, is now the last state to remove its face-covering rules with the COVID-19 pandemic seeming to be winding down.
After nearly two years of enforcing some of the most stringent COVID-19 guidelines in the country, Hawaii's governor announced Tuesday the state will drop its mask mandate on Saturday, March 26.
"We're also better at treating people who are infected, booster shots are helping save lives, and the CDC rates our state COVID-19 community level 'low,'" Gov. David Ige said in a Facebook post this week. "This is all promising. But we've seen variants wipe out previous progress. If we see another surge, we will be ready to reinstitute the mask policy, if needed."
Hawaii has one of the lowest coronavirus infection rates in the nation, USA Today said in a news release this week. The state also boasts a high vaccination rate, with more than 75% of residents having received two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine. That is 10 percentage points higher than the national average.
The quarantine mandate will also be dropped this month, Ige said in the news release.
"I want to once again thank everyone for their hard work and commitment to keeping our community safe," he said in the Facebook post. "I know this is a milestone many have been waiting for."