Orange County will lift its indoor mask mandate. Here’s when it will expire.

Orange County will lift its mask mandate on Monday, March 7, commissioners Chair Renee Price announced Tuesday at the board’s first in-person meeting in two years.

Price and the mayors of Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Hillsborough made the decision at a meeting Tuesday in consultation with Orange County Health Director Quintana Stewart and other local and UNC officials.

The decision was based on the falling number of COVID-19 cases and the rising vaccination rate, Price said.

“I appreciate everything community members and businesses have done to lower the spread of COVID-19 in Orange County. These efforts have saved lives,” Price said in a news release Wednesday morning.

“We ask everyone to respect the decisions made by individuals who continue to wear masks, as well as the rules instituted at businesses, health care facilities and service providers,” she said.

The mandate could be reinstated if COVID-19 metrics don’t continue the decline to “medium” and “low” levels of community spread, officials said. They noted that some businesses still may ask customers to wear a mask inside their stores or offices, and federal rules require masks in some places, including long-term care facilities and on buses.

The county’s decision comes roughly two weeks after Gov. Roy Cooper, citing increasing vaccination rates and falling COVID-19 cases, urged school districts and local governments to end their mask mandates.

Other Triangle governments also are dropping the requirement. Durham county and city leaders also will lift their mask mandates, effective Monday. Wake County lifted its mandate last week, effective Friday.

In Orange County, about 76% of residents have received at least one or two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, depending on the brand they received. The county has seen 150.87 new COVID cases per 100,000 people in the last seven days, the release noted, and the number of new hospital admissions is at 28.29.

Health officials urged unvaccinated people and those who are immunocompromised to continue wearing a mask indoors or in crowded areas, and to get vaccinated or seek a booster shot as soon as possible. Roughly 68,000 Orange County residents have received a booster shot, the release noted.

Divided opinions

The county’s mask mandate was lifted briefly last year but reinstated for all public spaces, including businesses, in August, when COVID-19 cases started to rise. Chapel Hill has maintained its indoor mask requirement in town buildings since the outbreak began in 2020.

Commissioner Jean Hamilton noted the commissioners have received emails asking them to lift the mask mandate and to keep it in place a little longer. She asked the public to “please respect those who decide to wear a mask.”

“No matter what perspective was shared, what came across to me is how difficult life has been for all of us during this pandemic, and I think the frustrations of not having clear guidelines or they’ve not been communicated clearly has added to our suffering,” Hamilton said.

Indoor mask mandates also have been in place in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools and the Orange County Schools districts.

But the Orange County school board decided last week that its district will follow the county’s lead, lifting its indoor mask mandate within 72 hours of the county’s mandate expiring.

The Chapel Hill-Carrboro school board is expected to consider lifting that district’s mask mandate, which applies both indoors and outdoors, on Thursday. School board members indicated at a recent joint meeting with OCS and the county commissioners that their schools also could follow the county’s lead.

UNC also is expected to follow the county’s lead on campus.

The Durham school board voted last week to keep its indoor masking requirement.

This story was originally published March 1, 2022 at 7:41 PM.

Tammy Grubb

The News & Observer

919-829-8926

Tammy Grubb has written about Orange County’s politics, people and government since 2010. She is a UNC-Chapel Hill alumna and has lived and worked in the Triangle for over 30 years.