As all other states in the country have either dropped their mask mandates or have announced plans to do so, Hawaii remains the only holdout, according to reports.
Democrat Gov. David Ige told KITV he is "working with the Department of Health to determine when the time is right for Hawaii to lift the indoor mask mandate."
"Hawaii ranks second in the nation when it comes to COVID deaths, in part because of the indoor mask requirement and other measures that have proven successful in protecting our community from this potentially deadly virus," Ige told KITV.
Ige added his administration bases his decisions on "science."
Hawaii currently requires masks to be worn indoors and recommends them "any time you're near others and have a hard time maintaining physical distance," according to reports.
State officials, however, say other restrictions will loosen in the near future.
"When we get to March 25, which is when the emergency proclamation expires, that would be a sensible time, as long as we're still doing things well, to get rid of restrictions," Lt. Gov. Josh Green told KHON-2.
"I think they would like to do it in small stages. They'd like to reduce restrictions and manage schools, followed by managing changes at the travel level, and then finally at the mask level for all of our people," Green added.
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