Future Of Columbus Mask Mandate, When It Could Be Lifted - ABC 6

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Future of Columbus mask mandate, when it could be lifted

by Alexis Moberger

Thu, February 10, 2022 at 6:20 PMUpdated Thu, February 10, 2022 at 10:05 PM3VIEW ALL PHOTOSCoronavirus numbers in Ohio have been falling since reaching in peak in January. As other states repeal mask mandates, some are wondering when Columbus will do the same. (WSYX)Comment on this story0CommentShare storyShare

topics:

• COLUMBUS
• California,United States
• Connecticut,United States
• Delaware,United States
• Illinois,United States
• New Jersey,United States
• New York,United States
• Ohio,United States

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WSYX) — COVID cases and hospitalizations are trending downward in the state of Ohio and across the country. Some states are now rescinding their mask mandate. According to city health experts, Columbus still needs to lower its numbers before a mask mandate may be lifted.

"We're very pleased with the downward trend. The cases went up really quick but they're going down even faster,” said Dr. Mysheika Roberts with Columbus Public Health.

States including New York, Illinois, New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, and California are now ditching mask mandates.

RELATED |Ohio COVID-19 hospitalizations continue to decline since Jan. 10 peak

"Some are lifting with dates in the future, like we will lift it on March 15. So, they are not lifting it today. They're predicting when their numbers will get better and they're making a determination of when they will lift it,” said Dr. Roberts.

Ohio ended its mask mandate back in June of 2021. However, some cities including Columbus have had a mask mandate since September.

"That mask mandate would stay in place until Columbus and Franklin County became a level yellow or moderate disease transmission,” said Dr. Roberts.

Dr. Roberts said the city and Franklin County are still at a red level, meaning high transmission.

WSYX

"Our positivity rate is 14 percent, and we need it to be between 5% and 7.9%,” said Dr. Roberts. "Right now, what we've seen over the last two weeks is our case rate has gone down by 50 percent almost every week. So now we're at a case rate of 295 per 100,000. If we go down another 50 percent next week, we could be at a rate of 150."

As cases continue to fall, Dr. Roberts is hopeful the mask mandate could end soon.

"Whether it be spring and whether you define spring as March of April, I am optimistic that we're going to get there much sooner than many people anticipate,” said Dr. Roberts.

It’s up to City Council to rescind the mask mandate. Dr. Roberts said she just made her recommendation, not lift the mask mandate just yet, to the council a few days ago.

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