New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced on Tuesday that the state is lifting most COVID-19 restrictions as its vaccination rate has topped 70 percent. According to the governor's office, businesses will no longer need to require vaccinated people to wear masks and maintain two meters of distance, but unvaccinated individuals must still wear masks. Local residents expressed their concern over the new rules as U.S. COVID-19 deaths surpassed 600,000 on Tuesday and total cases rose to over 33.47 million, according to data aggregated by Johns Hopkins University.