Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr. on Monday announced that starting Feb. 28 people will no longer be required to wear a mask inside county buildings facilities.
Unvaccinated employees will also no longer have to be tested for COVID-19 after Feb. 25.
Olszewski cited decreasing COVID-19 health metrics as the basis for his decision to end the requirements.
“As we approach the two-year mark of this pandemic, we are actively working to responsibly provide as much normalcy as possible for our employees and residents,” Olszewski said in a statement. “The numbers are trending in the right direction and I am glad to be in a position to take these next steps in Baltimore County.”
Officials said the county has recorded decreases across multiple metrics since early January, including average positivity rate (nearly 89% decrease), average case rate (95% decrease) and coronavirus-related hospitalizations (about 77%).
About 78% of Baltimore County residents age 5 and older have some level of vaccination against COVID-19, officials added.
Since Friday, Baltimore County’s level of community transmission of coronavirus has fallen from “high” to “substantial.” It is one of four Maryland counties whose transmission levels are currently at that lower level — the other three being Montgomery, Prince George’s and Queen Anne’s counties, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Monday.
No Maryland counties have reached moderate or low levels of community transmission since the omicron-fueled surge took hold of the state.
Baltimore County in October began requiring county unvaccinated employees to submit to weekly COVID-19 testing. That requirement will end Feb. 25.
The county will lift its indoor mask requirement for county buildings on Feb. 28, although employees and visitors are “encouraged” to continue wearing protective face masks, officials said.
Baltimore County’s COVID-19 state of emergency and countywide indoor mask mandate expired at the beginning of February.
