Several American states, all Democrats, are preparing to lift the obligation to wear masks in schools in the coming days.
With our correspondent in Washington, Guillaume Naudin
Until now, it was mainly the Republican states that were on the front line against the obligation to wear the mask at school. Mainly because the fight against the coronavirus is extremely politicized in the United States. But also because the very principle of obligation is very badly experienced in the country and is similar to a deprivation of freedoms.
But this time, it’s states run by Democrats who plan to unmask their students. In the northwest, Oregon and in the east, Connecticut, Joe Biden’s Delaware and New Jersey near New York which was the epicenter of the first wave of Covid-19 in the country. To this must be added California, the most populous state in the country, which will end the obligation to wear a mask indoors for vaccinated people, but not yet in schools.
For the past few days in the United States, the number of contamination linked to the Omicron wave has been in freefall and voices are being raised asking for a horizon and prospects for exiting the pandemic and returning to a more normal life.
Neither the Center for Disease Control nor the White House have changed their recommendations to about wearing a mask. The death toll remains high in a country where just over two-thirds of the population is fully vaccinated.