St. Joseph County’s health officer on Thursday night (May 13) rescinded the order requiring masks amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Robert M. Einterz cited the CDC’s recommendation earlier in the day that fully vaccinated people no longer need masks in most cases. Einterz also asked the St. Joseph County Council to rescind a related ordinance that allowed businesses to be fined for not enforcing the mask order among employees.

Both the mask order and the fine ordinance were supposed to be in place until May 27.

The decision to lift the order does not apply to businesses, which can still require masks.

Even though Einterz has faced political pressure to lift St. Joseph County’s mask order, he said in an interview Thursday night that the decision was based entirely on the CDC’s new guidance for fully vaccinated people. But Einterz’s decision means unvaccinated people, the majority of St. Joseph County’s population, also will not have to follow an order mandating masks indoors.

Less than 37% of the county's residents are fully vaccinated, according to the latest numbers from the health department.

“I remain very concerned we have pockets within our community where the number of individuals who are vaccinated is low,” Einterz said. “They will continue to spread the virus among themselves, and we’re not out of the woods with the potential for new variants.”

Read the full story in the South Bend Tribune