Summit County has ended much of its indoor mask mandate, enacted after the omicron surge began there a month ago, thanks to a “substantial decline in new COVID cases,” officials there said Tuesday night.

Beginning at midnight Wednesday, patrons to Summit County businesses and other indoor spaces no longer have to wear face-coverings, the county said in a statement. Masks are still required in government buildings, child care settings and schools for elementary-aged children, along with camps and indoor extracurriculars.

Summit County, along with resort neighbors Pitkin and Eagle counties, was the first area of Colorado to be hit by omicron, with cases beginning to spike just before Christmas. County officials swiftly enacted a mask mandate as cases rose and workers – at hospitals, the 911 dispatch center, restaurants and everywhere else – called out sick in high numbers, just as the area was welcoming tens of thousands of visitors for the holiday season. 

At one point, Summit County had one of the highest transmission rates in the country, according to The New York Times. Summit County had also been the site of the first COVID-19 case identified in Colorado in early March 2020.

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But cases have declined significantly in the area in recent weeks, as they have across the state. According to Summit County Public Health, the incidence rate over the past week is half of what it was over the past month, and the county is averaging half the number of new daily cases now than it had been. The average positivity rate, while still higher than any pre-omicron wave, has been cut nearly in half since early January.

Eagle County allowed its mask mandate to expire last week, for similar reasons.