New Hampshire Gov. says mask mandate will end ‘wicked soon,’ set to expire Friday

During a virtual event with the Greater Portsmouth Chamber on Wednesday, Sununu said, "The mask mandate will be ending very, very, very, very soon. I can't tell you exactly what date it's going to be but I think the term in New Hampshire is wicked soon, so we're there."

He also pointed out that New Hampshire has one of the fastest vaccine distributions and lowest death rates in the nation.

Coronavirus hospitalizations are up including in younger patients in Wentworth-Douglas Hospital in Dover, Elliot Hospital in Manchester and Southern New Hampshire Medical Center in Nashua. All three hospitals say they are treating younger patients.

During the event, when asked which restriction he would be lifting the Governor replied, "In terms of what regulations by Memorial Day, virtually all of them, all of them. I’m not talking about Memorial Day, I’m talking about way before Memorial Day."

He added that the state has provided coronavirus vaccinations to the state’s "most vulnerable population … that make up 98 percent of the fatalities."

"We’ve protected the vulnerable population, we’ve controlled the death rate, which is what this was all about in the first place. That’s what every regulation was about in the first place."

Sununu continued, "Once you’ve managed that, and we’ve done that better than almost anybody, we open up, get rid of the mask mandate, get rid of the regulations."

The Governor added that "as we get out of COVID, as we get folks vaccinated, we’re getting out of the regulations and we’re doing it really, really fast."