President Joe Biden says he thinks Democratic governors are "probably premature" in lifting mask mandates, but he stopped short of lashing out at them, saying, “It’s a tough call.”

In a seismic shift this week, a wave of states with Democratic governors announced plans to lift mask requirements at schools and/or public indoor spaces. The states include California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Nevada, Oregon and Rhode Island. 

But the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continues to recommend people age 2 and older wear masks indoors in public in areas where COVID-19 transmission is substantial or high, which, by CDC metrics, is virtually the entire country.

COVID-19 cases are falling fast in all 50 states, but the seven-day average of 215,000 new daily infections is still high compared to other points of the pandemic, and the virus is still killing around 2,300 Americans a day.

Biden has vowed since his campaign to “follow the science,” but only three states — Hawaii, New Mexico and Washington — have neither dropped their mask mandates nor announced plans to do so, giving the appearance that the federal government and CDC are being ignored.

The president acknowledged that restlessness two years into the pandemic and political pressure are driving the recent decisions by governors. 

“Omicron and all the variants have had a profound impact on the psyche of the American people,” Biden said. 

Biden said some people are confused by the fact that state policies conflict with CDC guidance, but he added that his administration has tried to protect Americans by ensuring vaccines, booster shots and masks are widely available.

The president tried to downplay the decisions by governors to drop mask requirements by saying only one state implemented the changes immediately and that others had set time tables for doing so in the coming weeks and months. However, four states rescinded their restrictions this week, and another, California, will drop its statewide mask mandate Tuesday.

Biden did not directly answer a question about whether children should be required to mask in schools, but did suggest masks were a big reason 98% of schools are open for in-person learning now. He said, because of vaccines, children are now better protected, adding that a shot for younger kids could be approved soon.