Governor Steve Sisolak has rescinded Nevada's mask mandate, effective immediately.
The Democrat up for re-election in November made the announcement Thursday.
The National Federation of Independent Business state chapter urged Sisolak on Wednesday to drop the mask mandate it says is making it hard for small businesses to retain and hire workers.
New COVID-19 cases in Nevada continue a steep decline since a statewide peak in mid-January.
But the spread of the virus remains far above CDC thresholds.
The press conference will be streamed on the Governor’s YouTube page and can be accessed here.
Earlier this week, the Carson City School District implemented a mask-optional policy. The decision came after the school district compared COVID cases to nearby school districts with similar populations and optional mask policies.
The school year began with an optional mask policy but changed when the Delta variant started surging. 64% of Carson City's eligible population is vaccinated, but school officials say kids with COVID are having typically minor symptoms and are ready to come back within a few days. Schools will continue to provide masks for anyone on a school bus. Staff and visitors are still required to wear masks at school.
Currently, all Nevada counties are listed as high risk of transmission. The number of cases remain high across the state with the current Omicron surge. Everyone must wear a mask in indoor settings, regardless of vaccination status.
Meanwhile, California's indoor masking requirement will end next week for vaccinated people but masks still are the rule for schoolchildren. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration brought back the masking mandate in mid-December as the omicron variant gained momentum, and last month extended it through Feb. 15. State health officials said Monday the mandate will end that day. Local health officials can continue their own requirements, however. The state also is lifting a requirement that people test negative before visiting hospitals and nursing homes, effective immediately. Meantime, health officials say they are continuing to evaluate the masking requirement for schoolchildren.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Wednesday announced that her state will end a COVID-19 mask mandate requiring face coverings in most indoor public settings, but will keep masking rules in place in schools for now. The broad rule requiring masks in places like shops and offices was put in place in mid-December as the omicron variant of the virus began infecting huge numbers of New Yorkers. It was set to expire Thursday.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker says that at the end of the month he will lift the requirement for face coverings to be worn in most indoor spaces to slow the spread of COVID-19, but the mandate will stay in place for K-12 schools where students, teachers and staff are clustered together. Pritzker said Wednesday that the worst of the deadly virus' omicron variant has passed and with hospitalization numbers plummeting, masks will not need to not be worn to enter restaurants, grocery stores or other indoor spaces. The Democratic governor has appealed a circuit court ruling last week that he had over stepped his gubernatorial bounds when he required face coverings for in-person learning.
The governors of four other states have also announced plans to lift statewide mask requirements in schools a month or two from now. They cited the rapid easing of COVID-19′s omicron surge. The decisions in Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey and Oregon were announced Monday as state and local governments grapple with which COVID-19 restrictions to jettison and which ones to keep in place. The changes also come amid a growing sense that the virus is never going to go away and Americans need to find a way to coexist with it. The four states are among a dozen with mask mandates in schools.
(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
