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At least 17 states no longer have a mask mandate, and even states like Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts and New York that previously were among the most cautious are easing restrictions. On Friday, Connecticut plans to eliminate capacity limits for many businesses, such as restaurants, retail stores, fitness centers in addition to places of worship.

In the coming weeks, New York will be increasing indoor and outdoor gathering capacities, and Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan has announced that capacity restrictions will be lifted everywhere with the exception of large venues.

\"Cases are lower than they were in our big fall, winter spike, and vaccinations are increasing, but we all need to still be careful and realize we're not yet out of the woods,\" Smith said.

Other experts, however, said they are not as concerned yet.

Jennifer Nuzzo, a public health researcher at Johns Hopkins University, told ABC News that although there's always the risk of a resurgence, particularly in states that lifted restrictions and mask mandates, \"I usually don't get worried until I see a two-week trend in the uptick in cases.\"

Until the U.S. begins broadening vaccinations to include other age and social groups, Nuzzo said she expects to see fluctuations in the data. But, she added, if these trends continue, a sustained increase in the daily case average over two weeks would be cause for concern as many states are scaling back on testing.

\"PHOTO:
Nathan Howard/Getty Images, FILE
PHOTO: Idaho Lieutenant Governor Janice McGeachin speaks during a mask burning event at the Idaho Statehouse, March 6, 2021, in Boise, Idaho.
>

The U.S. is now averaging just over 1 million tests a day, down from 1.8 million daily in January.

\"I do worry about the possibility that we're missing some spread that could then come and surprise us in a month or so, when suddenly it becomes very obvious,\" Nuzzo said.

“We’ve seen throughout the pandemic, decreases in testing capacity creates unnecessary blind spots in our surveillance and likely results in delayed public health response,” Brownstein added.

The surest way forward, experts agree, is vaccinations and more vaccinations.

\"The best way to circumvent the variants is to continue to vaccinate as many people as quickly and as efficiently as possible, at the same time as maintaining your public health measures,\" Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top disease expert, told ABC News on Tuesday.

To date, 12% of the total U.S. population has been fully vaccinated and 22.2% have received at least one dose.

With approximately 500 million COVID-19 vaccine doses expected to be in the pipeline by the end of May, more states are moving to open up eligibility requirements to allow anyone 16 or older access to them.

\"Given that the vaccines have been shown to provide broad protection against a range of variants,\" Brownstein said. \"These early warning signs reaffirm the need to sustain and even increase the pace of vaccination across the country.\"

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