The city of New Haven announced that they'll be getting rid of their mask mandate in public areas in less than two weeks.
People going to restaurants, stores, gyms, and more in the city will not be required to wear face masks starting March 7, according to Mayor Justin Elicker.
The mask mandate will remain in schools and municipal buildings in the city.
The mayor said the vaccination rate in the New Haven school district is still too low and "work needs to be done."
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New Haven Health Director Maritza Bond said there's been a lot of improvement in city-wide COVID-19 numbers since the recent peak in January.
The peak, caused by the Omicron variant, resulted in a rate of over 1,800 per 100,000 people with the virus between Jan. 2 and Feb. 8. Now, that number is down to approximately 100 per every 100,000 people, which is about a 94% decrease, according to Bond.
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There were over 400 people with COVID-19 in New Haven hospitals in January during the city's peak and now, there are only 45 hospitalizations, Bond said.
The city's coronavirus positivity rate has also decreased and is currently at 2.5%, Bond said. This is similar to the state's average positivity rate, which was 2.55% Friday.
