St. Paul followed suit late in the day, saying it would officially end its mandate on Wednesday. While we are yet to reach the benchmarks set by local public health experts, the reality of a maskless Minneapolis limits the logic and efficacy of maintaining a masking order alone, said St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter, adding that he urged all residents to get vaccinated as soon as possible.
Frey imposed the indoor mask mandate in Minneapolis last spring, two months before Gov. Tim Walz issued a similar statewide mask order.
Frey said the change was made because 78.6% of city residents age 15 and older have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose.