(Reuters) -On Wednesday, Kathy Hochul, New York’s Governor, will announce that her state has ended its mask mandate in most indoor public spaces, The New York Times reported. This news joins several other states who have lifted face-covering regulations as COVID-19 eases.

According to the newspaper’s sources, the Democratic governor plans to allow the expiration of the mask mandate which has been challenged by courts, rather than renewing it.

Uncertain if Hochul’s administration will repeal or renew a compulsory masking rule that has been in effect in New York for two weeks.

Representatives for Governor did not respond immediately to Reuters’ request.

Hochul called the general mandate for a mask temporary when she made it permanent Dec. 31 because of the Omicron virus, which was highly contagious.

Other Democratic-led States, such as New Jersey and California, Connecticut and Delaware, announced Monday that mask mandates were being lifted from public schools in order to free them up for the next several weeks.

Authorities cited all of these instances as evidence that the Omicron-fueled waves of COVID-19 hospitalizations, deaths, and COVID-19 infection were receding. They also referred to the wave of COVID-19-related infections, hospitalizations, and other illnesses that had been sweeping the United States since the holiday season at year’s end 2021.

However, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walsky said to Reuters that with the number of cases in America still being high, now isn’t the time for schools and other public areas to remove mask mandates.

Politicians are tempted to relax masking rules and move toward treating pandemic-weary people as part of daily life, rather than putting them on an emergency footing.

New York State Judge, Ellen Hochul, ruled that Hochul had exceeded her authority and rescinded Hochul’s mandate for a mask last month.

An appeals court judge, however, stayed the decision for the day. The case continued under judicial review.