COLUMBUS, Ohio — The indoor mask mandate is still in place for everyone in the City of Columbus.
For the first time since the discovery of the delta variant, Franklin County moved to orange. This means the county no longer has a high level of transmission. Still, 10TV's team of health experts say now is not the time to drop the masks indoors.
Dr. Joseph Gastaldo with OhioHealth said, "cases are down over 60% from where they were over 14 days ago, and hospitalizations are down in the state of Ohio over 40% from where they were 14 days ago. Clearly, we are heading in the right direction. We may not be there today, but I do think we will be there sometime in the very near future."
In a statement to 10TV, Mayor Andrew Ginther said, "Our collective efforts to control the spread of the virus have worked, and we look forward to lifting mask requirements in the very near future. As we move from a pandemic to endemic, there may be times in the future when mask advisories or mandates could become necessary as new variants come to our community. We continue to emphasize that the vaccine and boosters are the best tool we have in the fight against COVID-19 and encourage all who are eligible to get vaccinated.”
At the same time, the City of Bexley gave residents there the okay to drop their masks indoors.
"We want to be nimble. We're all very eager to move on to a new normal and move beyond mandates and restrictions," said Mayor Ben Kessler. "We were quick to put a mandate in place when it made sense, and I think we're quick to remove it when it makes sense."
Mayor Kessler said the mandate was lifted because they're seeing lower case counts and hospitalizations. Some people who live there said they're relieved.
"I think it's a good thing. People can't breathe in a mask or conversate in a mask, so it's about that time now it's been probably two years, I think. Maybe two and a half years," said Kenneth Parkham.
The City of Columbus recently said Franklin County needed to move to level yellow with moderate transmission to lift mask mandates.