More States Start To Lift Universal Indoor Masking Rules

Los Angeles Times: California To Lift Mask Mandate In Indoor Public Places
With the Omicron coronavirus surge rapidly receding, California will lift its universal mask mandate for indoor public places next week, state officials announced Monday. The lifting of the mandate will apply to counties without local mask orders of their own, such as San Diego, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, as well as swaths of the San Joaquin Valley. Counties can still opt to retain local mask orders, as Los Angeles County will do. (Lin II, Money and Willon, 2/7)

AP: Oregon To Lift Indoor Mask Requirement By End Of March
Oregon’s statewide mask requirement for indoor public places will be lifted no later than the end of March, health officials announced Monday. In addition, mask requirements for schools will be lifted on March 31. Education and health officials will meet in coming weeks to revise guidance to “ensure schools can continue operating safely and keep students in class” after mask rule is lifted, said Dr. Dean Sidelinger, the state medical officer and epidemiologist. (Cline, 2/7)

Axios: Blue States Move To Drop Mask Mandates 
America's blue states are increasingly chasing normalcy, especially when it comes to face mask rules meant to slow the spread of COVID-19. "We are not going to manage COVID to zero," tweeted Gov. Phil Murphy. The New Jersey Democrat announced today that his state is unwinding school mask mandates that have been in place for the entire pandemic. "We have to learn how to live with COVID as we move from a pandemic to an endemic phase of this virus." (Allen, Knutson and Saric, 2/7)

In updates on masks in schools —

NPR: 4 States Plan To End School Mask Mandates
Oregon is the latest state to set plans to lift its statewide mask mandate for schools, following earlier announcements Monday from New Jersey, Connecticut and Delaware. The loosening guidelines are signs that the four states are changing how they manage the COVID-19 pandemic as cases from the omicron surge continue to subside.Oregon health officials announced Monday its end date for indoor mask requirements for public places and inside schools is March 31. "The evidence from Oregon and around the country is clear: masks save lives by slowing the spread of COVID-19," Oregon state health officer Dr. Dean Sidelinger said in a news release. (Hernandez and Franklin, 2/7)

Chicago Tribune: Illinois School Mask Mandate Ruling Throws Districts Into Chaos 
A judge’s recent ruling that Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s COVID-19 mask mandate was authorized illegally prompted chaos and confusion Monday morning at school districts across Illinois, as increasingly volatile battles over virus mitigation strategies further divided communities and forced some schools to cancel classes. Meanwhile, the Illinois attorney general’s office filed an appeal Monday, demanding a stay to Sangamon County Circuit Judge Raylene Grischow’s Friday decision to grant a request from downstate attorney Tom DeVore to temporarily roll back the governor’s executive orders on masking and quarantining for schools. (Cullotta and Petrella, 2/7)

AP: Virginia Supreme Court Dismisses Mask Mandate Petition
The Supreme Court of Virginia on Monday rejected on procedural grounds a petition from parents seeking to invalidate Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s executive order prohibiting school systems from enforcing mask mandates in the classroom. Youngkin and Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares are battling in court on multiple fronts to defend the executive order. But the ruling is far from definitive. In a footnote, the justices say they offer “no opinion on the legality of EO 2,” the executive order that seeks to undo mask mandates, which are aimed at preventing the spread of the coronavirus. (Barakat, 2/7)

In other mask news —

The Washington Post: American University Unknowingly Distributed Counterfeit KN95 Masks, Officials Confirm
American University began distributing new KN95 masks on campus Monday after learning an initial batch of face coverings handed out by the school recently were counterfeit, officials said. The university began its new semester virtually to help mitigate the spread of the omicron variant of the coronavirus, and it resumed in-person classes on Jan. 31. It also set a new masking policy, requiring people to wear N95, KN95 or KF94 masks while indoors, saying those versions “provide the best protection.” The campus set up sites where people could pick up a mask if they have a university ID. (Asbury, 2/7)

Dallas Morning News: Lawsuit Accuses Dallas Firm Of Selling Fake PPE To Washington Hospitals, University
A Dallas medical device distributor is being sued for selling what the Washington State Hospital Association and the University of Washington say is $4 million worth of counterfeit personal protective equipment. The hospital association and university sued CJFS Corp. over face masks purchased early in the coronavirus pandemic that later were determined to be counterfeit 3M-branded masks. The hospital association purchased more than 634 cases of 3M 1860-model N95 masks for $1.4 million. The university bought 4,708 cases of 1860-model and 1860S-model N95 masks for $2.6 million in the fall of 2020, according to the lawsuit in King County Superior Court. (Skores, 2/7)

Fox News: Children Aren't As Good At Recognizing Masked Faces As Adults, Study Finds
Children have a more difficult time recognizing faces that are masked than adults, which could harm their ability to "navigate through social interactions with their peers and teachers," according to a newly released study. Erez Freud, a researcher at York University, who published his findings on Monday in the journal Cognitive Research: Principles & Implications. Freud, along with two professors from Israel’s Ben-Gurion University, gave 72 children between the ages of 6 and 14 the Cambridge Face Memory Test, which measures facial perception abilities by presenting people with and without masks while upright and inverted. (Best, 2/7)