"As much as we would like to move on and think that the pandemic is over, and I think we all would like that to happen at this point, it's wishful thinking," said Anita Barkin, co-chair of a COVID-19 task force for the American College Health Association. "The pandemic is still with us."
https://www.voanews.com/a/mask-mandates-return-to-us-college-campuses-as-cases-rise-/6541388.html
Basically, Covid mandates were dropped and covid cases went up.
But that is not the main point here. It is rather a show of respect to the sensitivities of citizens of a country you are visiting even if you think they are a waste of time.