As Covid cases begin decreasing, many states have been relaxing covid mandates such as vaccine and mask mandates. Starting March 1, restaurants, theaters, and gyms in Seattle, the state’s largest city where the first Covid-19 case was verified more than two years ago, would no longer require proof of vaccination. Employees from the city and county who have been working from home for the past two years will once again be able to be back into their offices. As the rate of Covid-19 infections falls, other large cities around the country, including Philadelphia, the Twin Cities, and the nation’s capital, Washington, D.C., are following suit. 

According to NBC News’ tally, the average number of new daily cases has plummeted by 67 percent nationwide in the last two weeks. States that have been heavily enforcing mask mandates like New York and California are now easing mask mandates for vaccinated people in indoor settings such as theaters and restaurants. Although this all may seem like good news, we must still pay close attention to the average number of cases. According to NBC news, about 100,000 people have died from covid in 2022 alone. Many people desire to lift vaccine and mask mandates to return to a state of normalcy; however, many don’t realize that these mandates actually accelerate our path towards normalcy by protecting citizens from covid and keeping covid cases low and steady. By continuing to lift these restrictions, this may actually cause covid to spread even more. For example, in the summer of 2021, many believed that it was time to return to regular social activities and mandates were beginning to be repealed around this time. But no one anticipated the Delta and Omicron variant to shoot up Covid-19 cases just when they were beginning to settle down. This forced governments to reinstate mandates, which led to a pushback from people who once tolerated these mandates because they already had a taste of normalcy. Although cases have been settling down, it is important to continue protecting yourself and others around you to make sure that there will be no unnecessary spikes in Covid-19 cases.