MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. — The Montgomery County Council voted Tuesday to approve a Board of Health amendment that will require seven consecutive days of substantial COVID-19 transmission in the county before officials reinstate an indoor mask mandate.
The vote means that the Board of Health will not reinstate an indoor mask mandate scheduled to be reissued at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, after it had been removed less than a week before.
The mask mandate was removed Thursday, Oct. 28, after the county had seven consecutive days just below 50 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people. That’s the threshold the CDC defines as, 'moderate community transmission.'
By Friday, the case count crept back up to 50.3 --entering the CDC’s "substantial transmission" status, thus a conversation began about whether the mandate would go back into effect.
Under the amended regulation, and if numbers stay above 50 cases per 100,000 people, the mandate would be reinstated Friday.
"Montgomery County has one of the best rates in the nation for vaccinations and limiting the spread of COVID-19 because we have consistently made public health decisions based on data and guidance from our top health officials," said Council President Tom Hucker. “The goal of this amendment is to balance public health concerns with stability and predictability for residents on indoor masking guidance. This approach is meant not only to keep each of us safe but to help keep everyone else safe.”
The original regulation was put into effect in August, when the Montgomery County Council, acting as the Board of Health, voted unanimously to require that all residents, regardless of vaccination status, wear face coverings indoors once Montgomery County became an area of “substantial transmission” of COVID-19. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), recommended in July that jurisdictions with substantial or high transmission rates of COVID-19 should require that masks be worn indoors.
The county's Board of Education will continue to dictate if masks will be required in schools regardless of the council's approved amendment. However, they may take guidance from the decision.
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