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Oregon’s indoor mask mandate, a COVID-19 safety protocol that became part of the state’s daily fabric, is now set to expire March 19. Masks will still be required in health care settings, on public transportation, and in airports and airplanes, Gov. Kate Brown announced today.
The state had set March 31 as the latest date the mandate would lift—and 400 or fewer COVID-19 hospitalizations as the benchmark that would lift the mask mandate earlier. That level of hospitalizations is now expected to arrive earlier than the end of March.
All existing emergency orders will expire at the end of the month and not be renewed.
“Lifting Oregon’s COVID-19 emergency declaration today does not mean that the pandemic is over, or that COVID-19 is no longer a significant concern,” Brown says. “But, as we have shown through the Delta and Omicron surges, as we learn to live with this virus, and with so many Oregonians protected by safe and effective vaccines, we can now protect ourselves, our friends, and our families without invoking the extraordinary emergency authorities that were necessary at the beginning of the pandemic.”
School districts can also lift their indoor mask mandates March 19. That’s a change: The state had set March 31 as the date regardless of hospitalizations. Schools can maintain the requirements, should they choose to.
Notably, state health officials continue to recommend indoor masks at schools and for vulnerable populations: “They include people who are at higher risk because they are unvaccinated; immunocompromised; have underlying health conditions that put them at higher risk of complications; are 65 or older; or who live with someone in one of those categories.”
The Oregon Health Authority did not respond immediately to a question asking how many Oregonians that includes or which health conditions it recommends they mask up for.