All COVID-19 restrictions, including mask mandates, will be lifted in Springfield as of 11:59 p.m. on May 27.
Springfield City Council voted eight to zero, with one member absent, to repeal the city’s COVID-19 ordinance at its meeting Monday night. Masks are no longer required outdoors effective immediately.
Katie Towns, acting director of the Springfield-Greene County Health Department, pointed out that May 27 is the last day of school for Springfield Public School students.
"This will allow children not yet eligible for vaccine to continue to be protected with masks through the end of the school year," she said. "It also allows us to continue to boost our vaccination rates, which continue to be lower than we would like."
She encouraged people to get vaccinated against COVID-19 and said those who don’t get a shot should continue to wear masks in public. As of Monday morning, 35.61 percent of Greene County residents had been vaccinated.
Five people spoke at last night’s meeting against the restrictions and the vaccine.
Mark Opheim pointed to a sign in front of city hall that shows how many Greene County residents have been vaccinated against COVID-19.
"That tells me that, after a year of ridiculous theater, 70 percent of the people in this city do not believe you, and they are not into getting spurious medical treatments for things that aren't even that bad," he said.
Even after the city’s COVID-19 restrictions are repealed, businesses may set their own rules about masking and social distancing.
