Masks still required in schools, places of worship, nursing facilities, childcare facilities, and libraries.
QUICK FACTS:
- Washington, D.C. will drop its indoor vaccine and mask mandates in the coming weeks, Mayor Muriel Bowser announced Monday, Axios reports.
- The mask mandate will be lifted March 1, while masks will still be required in some places, including schools, congregate settings, nursing facilities, childcare facilities, and libraries.
- On Feb 26, D.C. will also end its public firehouse COVID-19 testing sites, which have been in place since 2020.
- The indoor vaccine mandate applying to restaurants, gyms, and concert venues will be lifted on Feb 15, the day D.C. had originally required people to be fully vaccinated to meet the mandate.
WHAT MAYOR BOWSER SAID:
- “We’re in a much better place now,” Bowser said Monday, noting cases are down more than 90% since the Omicron wave’s height, according to Axios.
- Bowser rejected the notion the move was premature and said that D.C. must be nimble.
- “I don’t think any of us can say here that there won’t be other variants that would require us to do something different. So just like when Omicron presented itself, we adjusted our approach,” she said.
BACKGROUND:
- D.C. decision to drop its mandates follows other major cities across the U.S. as the Omicron surge subsides, Axios notes.
- Soon after D.C.’s announcement, a neighboring county in Maryland said its indoor mask mandate is set to end Feb 21, adding that a proposal for a vaccine mandate in the county’s businesses won’t move forward for the area’s over 1 million residents.
- Bowser said a decision on lifting mask mandates in schools isn’t likely to come anytime soon.
