New York state will end a mandate requiring face coverings in most indoor public settings but will keep school masking rules in place, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced. New York is the latest in a long line of states to roll back mask mandates amid a decline in daily infection and hospitalization numbers. Still, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday that her agency was preparing to update its mask guidance – but that it was not yet ready to drop it. "We are prepared, we are working on that guidance, we are working on following the trends for the moment," she said. "Our hospitalizations are still high, our death rates are still high… We are encouraged by the current trends (but) we’re not there yet.” In New York, the mandate requiring face coverings in public places such as grocery stores, shops and offices, was put in place Dec. 10 amid the surge of omicron variant infections. It was set to expire Thursday unless Hochul, a Democrat, extended it. #newyorkmaskmandate