Mask Mandate

The Connecticut Department of Transportation made the announcement on Wednesday, two days after a federal judge in Florida struck down the federal mask mandate on airplanes and mass transit.

People will no longer be required to wear face masks in Connecticut hospitals, outpatient health care settings and homeless shelters, once a state masking order expires early Friday.

Gov. Kathy Hochul said she based her decision on dramatically lower COVID-19 infection rates and new guidance from the CDC.

A Siena College poll finds that while most New Yorkers back Governor Kathy Hochul's plan to re evaluate school mask mandates in early March, parents of school children are more closely divided on the COVID-19 related rule.

The vote grants Lamont the authority to continue some of his pandemic orders until June 30. It also continues his declaration of a public health emergency which allows Connecticut to get federal assistance.

They include a statewide mask mandate for schools and child care centers.

A state health department board voted to formally extend the mask mandate for schoolchildren, but not without raising some questions about how the decision was made.

Democrats passed the measure along party lines amid Republican opposition.

Superintendent Steven Cheeseman called any extension of Governor Ned Lamont’s mandate by the Legislature after February 28 “an overreach.”

Steven Cheeseman, the Superintendent for the Diocese of Bridgeport catholic schools, sent a letter to parents and families that students would be given the option to wear masks as of Monday.