TOWSON, MD—Amid consistently improving COVID-19 metrics, County Executive Johnny Olszewski on Monday announced that Baltimore County’s indoor public mask requirement will be lifted effective Tuesday, February 1, 2022 and the state of emergency will be lifted, effective Monday, February 7, 2022.

“We are strongly encouraged by the progress we’ve seen in recent days and remain cautiously optimistic that we are emerging from this omicron wave,” Olszewski said. “The best way to continue our progress is for every resident to protect themselves, their loved ones, and our community by getting vaccinated and boosted as soon as possible. Moving forward, we will continue to closely monitor key metrics and remain prepared to take whatever steps are necessary to protect public health.”

In response to rapid increases in COVID-19 cases amid the extremely contagious omicron variant, Olszewski had announced a state of emergency and indoor public health order on December 27, 2021.

In recent weeks, Baltimore County has seen consistent and encouraging decreases in major COVID metrics:

• Since January 3, 2022, Baltimore County’s positivity rate has decreased by nearly 80 percent.
• Since January 3, 2022, Baltimore County’s average positivity rate has decreased by nearly 80 percent
• Since January 11, 2022, the average number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients in Baltimore County has decreased by nearly 50 percent.

County employees and the general public will continue to be required to wear masks inside all Baltimore County offices, library branches, and government facilities.

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