COVID updates: Hawaii is only state to not announce plans to lift mask mandates
Every other state has lifted or announced plans to lift mandates.
As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.8 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 934,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
About 64.6% of the population in the United States is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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New Mexico ends mask mandate
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced Thursday that the state's mask mandate for indoor areas is over, effective immediately.
Masks will still be required for some settings, "including hospitals, long-term care facilities and detention facilities." School districts were allowed to determine if their mandates for classrooms would remain in effect, according to the governor's office.
"Given the continued drop in hospitalizations and the lessening of the burden on our hospitals, it’s time to end the mask mandate. With vaccines, boosters and effective treatment options widely available, we have the tools we need to protect ourselves and keep our fellow New Mexicans safe," Grisham said in a statement.
As of Thursday, 73.5% of eligible New Mexico residents were fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
North Carolina governor urges school districts to drop mask mandates
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper urged local officials and school districts to end their mask mandates next month.
Mask use indoors has not been universally required in North Carolina since last spring, when the Cooper ended statewide requirements. Each school district in the state has made their own masking requirements.
If COVID-19 trends continue to decline, the governor is encouraging all school districts to drop their mandates starting starting March 7.
"It’s time to focus on getting our children a good education and improving our schools, no matter how you feel about masks," Cooper said at a news conference.
As of Thursday, 62.7% of eligible North Carolina residents are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
-*ABC News' Arielle Mitropoulos, Ben Stein and Leonardo Mayorga*
Washington state to end mask mandate in March
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee announced that based on the state's COVID-19 case and hospitalization rates, the mandate for masks in indoor settings would end March 21.
"We are approaching a place fairly shortly where we will not have to be wearing masks generally in these in these conditions," he said during a news conference. "And we think this is both good for our health and our education of our children and the total reopening of our economy."
Inslee added that businesses and schools would be allowed to issue their own mask mandate after March 21 if they choose to.
The governor also announced that the requirement for vaccine verification at large events will end on March 1.
-ABC News' Zach Ferber and Matt Fuhrman
California outlines endemic plan
Gov. Gavin Newsom and California health officials have released a plan to deal with COVID-19 once it becomes an endemic.
The plan, dubbed "SMARTER," will focus on seven areas: shots, masks, awareness, readiness, testing, education and medicine.
Officials said that clear "on and off ramps” for future restrictions, such as mask mandates, will be created specifically for variants.
California Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly said case rates could determine future restrictions if the state faces a more deadly variant in the future, while hospital capacity could be the primary indicator if California faces a less virulent variant similar to omicron.
The state will publish a one- to two-page summary of the state’s current recommendations on COVID-19 in the next couple of days, according to Ghaly.
-ABC News' Matt Fuhrman
WHO announces 6 African countries will receive COVID vaccine technology
The World Health Organization announced Friday that Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia will be the first six countries to receive COVID-19 mRNA vaccine technology from a transfer hub.
The hub was established in 2021 to help low-and middle-income countries produce COVID vaccines vaccines for their citizens.
Recently, the hub’s research and development partner, South Africa’s Afrigen Biologics and Vaccines, produced small batches of COVID mRNA vaccines from publicly available data from Moderna, despite little to no help from the company.
"No other event like the COVID-19 pandemic has shown that reliance on a few companies to supply global public goods is limiting and dangerous," said WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at the European Union - African Union summit. "In the mid- to long-term, the best way to address health emergencies and reach universal health coverage is to significantly increase the capacity of all regions to manufacture the health products they need, with equitable access as their primary endpoint.”