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With COVID-19 vaccines and treatments working well to prevent serious illness, health officials are not recommending new restrictions unless hospitalization rates spike, according to The Hill.

The spike: COVID-19 cases are rising in parts of the U.S., including many cities in the northeast.

• However, there are no signs of a massive spike like the one fueled by the omicron variant that hit this past winter.

More good news: Vaccines and boosters are still providing robust protection, and new treatments are also saving lives.

• “A new treatment, the Pfizer pill known as Paxlovid, cuts the risk of hospitalization or death by about 90 percent for people who do get infected.”

The CDC says: Since the end of February, the CDC has advised that people do not need to wear masks unless hospitalizations increase at a high rate. But an increase in cases alone shouldn’t trigger a return of masks.

The Biden administration says: “We don’t have to let it dictate our lives anymore,” said Ashish Jha, the new White House COVID-19 response coordinator. “If you’re vaccinated, boosted, you’re going to be highly protected. We have a lot of therapy now that’s widely available for people who are at all higher risk, so even if you have a breakthrough infection, you can get treatments. That means that the virus should not control our lives anymore.”