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Still, even with all the warnings that the pandemic isn’t over, signs of life are returning. Louisiana convened its state fair Thursday, after canceling it last fall, and promised a second festival in fall. California’s Disneyland reopened Friday and water parks were planning to reopen this summer, after last year’s lost season.

Perhaps the biggest sign of life returning to the U.S. was the announcement that New York City would fully reopen July 1 with large Broadway productions expected this fall.

\"This is going to be the summer of New York City,\" Mayor Bill de Blasio declared triumphantly this week. \"I think people are going to flock to New York City because they want to live again.\"

Other local officials are ready to declare the pandemic over, even with some 50,000 cases averaging a day in the country.

\"A widely available vaccine changes everything and it’s a new season in Tennessee,\" said Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee. \"I am not renewing any public health orders because COVID-19 is no longer a health emergency in our state.\"

Walensky told reporters on Friday there is still a need to go slow.

“This virus has tricked us before so I would like to sort of watch and see how it goes before making further estimations of what happens in a couple of months,\" she said.

ABC News’ Matthew Vann, Arielle Mitropoulos and Cheyenne Haslett contributed to this report.

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