The city of Cincinnati Tuesday announced that it would end all mask and vaccine mandates for city employees, effective immediately.
“Today, alongside top health experts and City leaders, we announced the removal of masking and testing requirements for all City employees and facilities,” Mayor Aftab Pureval (D) said on Twitter.
Today, alongside top health experts and City leaders, we announced the removal of masking and testing requirements for all City employees and facilities.
Click below for more on the decision, its significance, and what it means heading into the warmer months. pic.twitter.com/Hr8yRUIAWL
— Aftab Pureval (@AftabPureval) March 8, 2022
In a series of posts, he explained the city’s logic.
He noted that the city has a COVID-19 case positivity rate of only two and a half percent, which is even lower than that of the Delta variant which swept the country last summer, and said that the transmission rate of the disease is declining.
In seven days, the COVID-19 hospitalization rate per 100,000 people in Hamilton County has dropped to only 10 people in the last seven days, he said.
“The City of Cincinnati is at a turning point, Pureval said in a statement. “I’m thrilled to join our neighbors in going out and fully embracing all that our great city has to offer – and I’m grateful to be a part of a community that stands ready to respond to historic challenges by helping each other through it.”
Despite the news, Pureval said residents of the city need to “stay up to date” on vaccines and boosters, as well as quarantine guidelines if they test positive for COVID-19.
The Ohio Department of Health (ODH) declined to comment on the matter.
As of March 9, the seven-day average for COVID-19 cases in Ohio was 714, the lowest level since July 25.
The average seven-day death rate across the state hit 68, the lowest tally since early December when the Omicron variant of the virus began to sweep the nation.
More than one month ago, the state’s seven-day case average dropped to pre-Omicron levels, The Ohio Star reported.
That data, from February 3, showed that the average seven-day caseload in the state had dropped by more than 27,000 in just two weeks, a drastic drop that signaled that Omicron’s peak had passed.
ODH still refuses to recognize that the Omicron wave of the virus has peaked, and has declined to comment on all of The Star’s media requests.
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Pete D’Abrosca is a reporter at The Ohio Star and The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Aftab Pureval” by Aftab Pureval. Background Photo “Cincinnati City Hall” by Greg5030. CC BY-SA 3.0.
