Eva Deschamps / November 17, 2021
The U.S. capital, one of the strictest jurisdictions for Covid-19-related measures in the U.S., will lift the requirement to wear a mask indoors next week, the mayor of Washington announced Tuesday.
However, private companies will still be able to impose the wearing of masks, and they will remain mandatory on public transport, inside schools, day-care centres, libraries, retirement homes and certain public buildings.
The U.S. federal capital had implemented mandatory masks for both vaccinated and unvaccinated people in late July, in response to a surge in Covid infections linked to the Delta variant.
In doing so, Washington was among the jurisdictions with the strictest health measures in the country.
The lifting of the mask requirement, which comes as winter approaches and before the holidays, which often lead to a surge in infections, nevertheless contrasts with the recommendations of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
If the number of infections seems to have stabilized, the CDC indicates on its website that Washington remains a place where the circulation of the virus remains substantial, with 572 contaminations in the last 7 days.