CHICAGO, Ill. (WTVO) — Gov. JB Pritkzer said Friday that he’s optimistic that Illinois could soon loosen COVID-19 mitigations in the near future.

“I’m very pleased that we were able to weather this COVID storm with Omicron.. I believe that we should remove masks as soon as we possibly can,” he said, speaking at an event in Chicago.

Pritzker said his administration is looking into repealing the mask mandate soon.

COVID-19 cases have been dropping rapidly in recent weeks.

Winnebago County logged only 32 new cases on Friday.

The governor did not give a timetable on when masks could be done away with but said he’s consulting with doctors and health experts.

Only nine states, California, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, and Washington, require residents to wear masks indoors regardless of whether or not they’ve been vaccinated.