The Biden administration will significantly loosen federal mask-wearing guidelines to protect against COVID-19 transmission on Friday according to two people familiar with the matter.

Under current guidelines, masks are recommended for people residing in communities of substantial or high transmission which is roughly 95% of U.S. counties.

The new metrics will still consider caseloads but also take into account hospitalizations and local hospital capacity, which have been markedly improved during the emergence of the omicron variant.

The new policy comes as the Biden administration moves to shift its focus to preventing serious illness and death from COVID-19, rather than all instances of infection and as most states have removed mask requirements.