Feb 17, 2022 - COVID

Columbus' mask mandates may be lifted soon

Tyler Buchanan

A man walks into a store with a sign on the window reading, "Mask Mandate Must Wear Mask Prior To Coming In." — Masks have been required in Columbus public spaces like Polaris Fashion Place since September. Photo: Matthew Hatcher/Getty Images

Area leaders are preparing to lift their respective cities' mask requirements in public places with COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations on the decline.

Driving the news: The waning of the Omnicron variant has state and local governments across the U.S. moving to drop their pandemic restrictions.

The cities of Columbus, Bexley, Whitehall and Worthington all plan to rescind their mask mandates in the coming weeks if trends continue, their leaders stated in a news release yesterday.

State of play: A total of 363 people in the central Ohio region were hospitalized with COVID-19 as of Wednesday, per Ohio Department of Health data, down from 646 just two weeks ago.

Context: Columbus repealed its initial mask requirement last summer, but Mayor Andrew Ginther reissued it via executive order in September.

Ginther isn't ruling out future health orders if new variants pop up.
Two Republican lawmakers have sought to prevent cities from instituting mask mandates, but their proposal has made little progress.

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Columbus' mask mandates may be lifted soon

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