On Wednesday night, Mecklenburg County commissioners came to the unanimous decision to end the current mask mandate. The mask mandate was decided upon on August 17th and went into effect on the 31st of August.
Tonight #MeckBOCC voted to end the Public Health Rule requiring indoor face coverings, effective Feb. 26 » https://t.co/nFtHLzIylf pic.twitter.com/To80lSnxtQ
— Mecklenburg County (@MeckCounty) February 17, 2022
The vote was to end the Public Health Rule that required indoor face coverings and on February 26th, the mask mandate will end.
With that being said, businesses are still allowed to dictate their own indoor mask policy, but will no longer be required to. The county is also still recommended to wear them in crowded, indoor places. This also doesn’t apply to schools, which has been a divisive decision. North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper is scheduled to have a press conference Thursday at 3 p.m. to address the state’s recommendations for school districts.
Despite the county still well above over 5% which was the previous bar to end the mandate, the commissioners made a unanimous decision to end the mandate. Cases are recently decreased but still remain high. An average of 488 cases per day were reported in Mecklenburg County, a 69 percent decrease from the average two weeks ago. The infection rate sits at .50 and a positive test rate of 15.9%.
This will be the last weekend where masks are required indoors in the county.