St. Louis Park Will Enact Mask Mandate
ST. LOUIS PARK, Minn. (WCCO) -- Another Twin Cities suburb will enact a mask mandate in an attempt to stop the spread of COVID-19.
The St. Louis Park City Council voted Tuesday night to adopt an emergency ordinance requiring face coverings in the city.
The mandate will take effect at 12:01 a.m. Friday and applies regardless of vaccination status. It requires people to wear masks "in restaurants and bars when not seated at a table, entertainment venues and common spaces in multifamily residential and multitenant office buildings," the council said.
The ordinance is set to expire on Feb. 22, unless the council repeals or extends it.
Minneapolis and St. Paul, as well as at least five other Minnesota cities, have recently enacted mask mandates as the Omicron variant drives up case counts. A vaccine or testing mandate also takes effect in the Twin Cities Wednesday.
The average positivity rate in Minnesota was last reported at 22.2%, and the state has now tallied 11,000 deaths from the virus.
Modeling from Mayo Clinic shows that the Omicron variant could peak in Minnesota as soon as next week, and afterwards, there could be a dramatic drop off.