The governor of Louisiana, John Bel Edwards, announced Tuesday that the indoor mask mandate will no longer be in effect now that there has been a decline in new infections.
The mandate is lifted for grocery stores, restaurants, bars and other businesses, but will remain in effect for schools. The decision is based on children being ineligible for the vaccine.
Mask mandates are not required at schools that use a strict quarantine protocol and have students quarantine when coming into contact with positive COVID-19 cases. Schools that don’t use a quarantine protocol will still be mandated to wear masks.
The new rules began Wednesday.
Some colleges and universities will keep their mandate in place.
The mandate was reinstated in August when Louisiana was hit the hardest with new COVID cases.
The state is still one of the lowest vaccinated states in the U.S.
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