Mask mandate eases nationwide; Walz lifts public requirement for vaccinated

With effective vaccinations increasing against COVID-19 nationwide, the Centers for Disease Control eased mask-wearing guidance May 13, suggesting that fully vaccinated people can stop wearing masks outdoors in crowds and in most indoor settings.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz quickly followed suit, holding a news conference the evening of May 13 to announce a lifting of the statewide mask mandate May 14, while retaining the CDC recommendation that only fully vaccinated people stop wearing masks.

Some cities across Minnesota have their own requirements for pandemic-related mask usage.

President Joe Biden noted the nation’s progress in combating COVID-19 with vaccines, even as he urged people who are not vaccinated to continue wearing masks indoors. He also acknowledged the recommendation would be impossible to enforce.

Minnesota Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm said at the May 13 news conference with Walz that she had mixed feelings about not retaining the mandate at this time. Many Minnesotans remain unvaccinated and “the pandemic is not over,” she said.

State officials estimate about 61% of Minnesota’s residents age 16 and older have received at least one dose of a vaccine. Minnesota’s rate of COVID-19 transmission is fourth highest in the country. Walz noted that statistic and urged people to get vaccinated.

The mandate lifting came sooner for Minnesotans than initially expected. Last week, Walz relaxed social distance restrictions but said he planned to retain Minnesota’s mask mandate until July 1, or until 70% of the state’s residents were vaccinated, whichever came first. Walz’s May 6 executive order meant pandemic-related social distancing restrictions and group size limits at indoor places of worship would end May 28, but mask-wearing would continue.

As part of its response to the May 6 executive order, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis noted the continuing mask mandate while inviting all who could attend to the May 29 priestly ordination at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul, which also would be livestreamed.

“Come and celebrate the first fully open Archdiocesan celebration in a year and half!” Father Tom Margevicius, the archdiocese’s director of worship, said in a May 12 memo to all archdiocesan parishes and institutions.

The City of St. Paul has an indoor mask, social distancing mandate for licensed businesses and facilities controlled by the city, but not for churches.

The temporary dispensation of Catholics’ obligation to attend Mass on Sunday that Archbishop Bernard Hebda granted in March 2020, as the pandemic first gripped Minnesota, continues.