Indoor Mask Mandate Ends Monday In Prince George's County, Still Required On Buses

PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, MD — The county's indoor mask mandate will end Feb. 28 as COVID-19 cases continue to drop "significantly" in the county, officials say."

“After consulting with our health officials, we are confident in our decision to lift the indoor mask mandate on February 28,” Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks said. “I couldn’t be prouder to be a Prince Georgian, as we have the lowest transmission rate in the state because Prince Georgians never hesitated to follow the guidance from our health professionals, and have done so with grace and compassion. At the beginning of the pandemic, we told our community we would follow the data, and the data now tell us it is safe to remove our masks. As we enter this next phase, we know that some of our residents will want to continue to wear masks, so we encourage Prince Georgians to continue to be respectful of each other.”

Prince George’s County currently is the only jurisdiction in the state of Maryland in the moderate range of transmission, as defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As of Friday, the county has a case rate of 44.98 cases weekly per 100,000 residents and a positivity rate of 2.29 percent. Just two weeks ago, the weekly case rate was 104.3 cases per 100,000 residents and the positivity rate was 5.16 percent.

“All of the county’s key COVID-19 metrics have been trending in the right direction, and we expect that to continue in the weeks ahead,” Dr. George Askew, Prince George’s County Deputy Chief Administrative Officer for Health, Human Services, and Education, said. “Prince Georgians have done fantastic work protecting each other for two years wearing masks, getting tested, and getting vaccinated. While the fight is not over, data show we can safely start this new phase of the pandemic.”

A mask mandate remains in place for public transportation through a CDC order. Residents are still required to wear a mask while taking any form of public transportation in the county and elsewhere in the United States, which includes buses, trains and planes.