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New Orleans officials are keeping the COVID-19 mask mandate in place until vaccination rates increase, unlike other parts of the state. Coinciding with the ongoing mask requirement, Mayor LaToya Cantrell’s office is expected to loosen some restrictions tomorrow. Gov. John Bel Edwards eased up on previous restrictions, including removing the statewide mask mandate and leaving the decision of whether to require face coverings up to local leaders. (Ravits, 4/28)

Life in Charlotte is closer to “normal” as more coronavirus-related restrictions will be phased out starting Friday. North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said masks will no longer be required outdoors, and mass gathering limits will increase to 100 people indoors and to 200 outdoors. The new mandate comes a week after Cooper announced he expects to end many COVID-19 restrictions starting June 1. (Muccigrosso, Marusak and Smoot, 4/28)

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan on Wednesday repealed the state’s outdoor masking mandate with the exception of large-scale ticketed venues such as concerts or sporting events, citing the latest guidance issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Hogan (R) also said restaurants could drop social distancing and capacity requirements for outdoor dining and outdoor stand-up bar service starting Saturday. (Cox, 4/28)

While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and President Joe Biden on Tuesday announced that fully vaccinated people can go without masks while outdoors, officials noted that there are still many instances in which a mask is necessary, including in crowded settings. As such, research continues into which face coverings are most effective, with a recent finding suggesting that multi-layered cloth masks are as viable as surgical masks. The team, made up of researchers from the Universities of Bristol and Surrey, went so far as to say that if both an infected person and a healthy individual are both wearing well-fitted masks, cloth or surgical, there is a 94% less chance of coronavirus exposure. (Hein, 4/28)

To find out which masks are best to wear both on the plane and at the gate, we spoke with four experts: Kullar; Dr. Purvi Parikh, an immunologist with NYU Langone Health; Dr. Aaron Glatt, the chair of medicine at Mount Sinai South Nassau and a spokesman for the Infectious Diseases Society of America; and Dr. Waleed Javaid, the director of infection prevention and control at Mount Sinai Downtown. Javaid says he gets this question all the time. “Everybody asks me, should we really have an N95? Should we have this and that?” His answer: “You should have whichever mask you’re going to keep wearing.” According to all of the doctors we spoke to, that mask should have multiple layers and be comfortable enough that you can breathe, and you won’t be tempted to take it off. (Corsillo, 4/28)

Two YouTubers are facing deportation from Bali after they made a prank video that depicted one of them breaking local mask laws. Josh Paler Lin and Leia Se have reportedly had their passports seized by local government and risk being forced to leave Indonesia as a result of the video. In the clip, Se attempts to enter a grocery store, only to be turned away because she isn't wearing a face mask. Lin then paints a fake mask on her face and she is able to go into the shop. (Marcus, 4/28)

Masks — and requirements to don them — have prompted debate around the world since the start of the pandemic. Widely accepted in some places, they have been protested or completely forgone in others. In the United States, federal guidelines have shifted over time, and individual states have imposed different requirements. Mask-wearing became highly politicized, complicating efforts to enforce usage. But in places like Hong Kong and Japan, face coverings were widely worn even before the pandemic, so everyday mask-wearing easily became routine. (Parker, 4/28)