Democratic governors lift indoor mask mandates despite CDC guidance – as it happened

• New York governor announces policy will expire as of Thursday
• CDC advises masking in areas of high and substantial transmission'
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Dr Rochelle Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, just said that the agency continues to recommend masking in areas of high and substantial transmission".

According to the CDC's own data, 99.5% of all US counties currently qualify as areas of high and substantial transmission, even as the number of new coronavirus cases across the US has decreased in the past few weeks.