Hawaii is moving slowly toward the “new normal,” which basically means as much of the “old normal” as can safely be restored in a pandemic that has not quite ended.

This is welcome progress, evidenced most recently in Gov. David Ige’s decision Tuesday to lift the mask mandate on outdoor activities, regardless of COVID-19 vaccination status. The marquee benefit is the freedom for sports organizations to resume their outdoor recreation, something they’ve sought for months.

The mask-mandate change appears to align with the current data and the stages of recovery across the islands. So far, current efforts to loosen restrictions have not led to a serious spike in cases, health officials said.

Ige’s incremental approach to easing once-severe restrictions means that people can gradually take over the public-health controls — and responsibility — from the government. They can do so with more security, having learned over the past year what safeguards work well and when to use them.

Still, there’s more work to be done in this transition. For example: lingering lapses in common courtesy around mask-wearing.

The state’s mask guidance had been more restrictive than the May 13 recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Then, the CDC stated that those who are fully vaccinated no longer needed to wear a mask in most situations, indoors as well as outside.

In response, state and local governments have been lifting their mandates entirely, in contrast to Hawaii’s more cautious approach. In keeping the masking rules in place, Ige cited the fact that the majority of residents remained unvaccinated.

However, in the last two weeks, vaccinations have proceeded, with the newest cohort of adolescents 12 and up starting to get their shots. Oahu is nearing 50% fully vaccinated, the Tier 4 threshold at which Mayor Rick Blangiardi wants to allow larger gatherings of up to 25 people.

Simply put, it appears time to take another step toward more relaxed routines. Significantly, Hawaii’s revised masking rules are now even looser than what CDC guidance suggests. The agency still recommends that unvaccinated people wear masks indoors in public places and outdoors wherever they cannot maintain social distancing. As a practical matter, of course, distinguishing between the vaccinated and unvaccinated is next to impossible — making a rule based on the CDC guideline difficult to enforce.

Dr. Elizabeth Char, state health director, underscored that while it’s not required under the new Hawaii rule, wearing a mask outdoors is still recommended in more crowded settings.

People would be wise to heed that advice while the vaccination rates still hover around the 50% mark. They can’t know which more-contagious variants of the coronavirus — now more dominant in Hawaii than the original virus, Char said — are circulating nearby.

And since one can’t know who is unvaccinated, Hawaii residents need to stay alert to the current levels of community spread and any clusters of infections that surely will continue to crop up, and act accordingly.

They also need to act like adults. Making masks, or the lack of one, a political statement was one of the most unfortunate developments of 2020, and it’s long past time to drop that bad habit. Face coverings are common sight in other countries, for good reason: They have been shown to be effective not only against COVID, but against other illnesses as well.

Going forward, Hawaii should embrace the mask — or at least accept that a fellow citizen may feel safer wearing one. At the same time, kamaaina can happily uncover more often, as they enjoy the sunny summer days ahead.