MISSOULA – At Thursday’s meeting of the Missoula County Board of Health, the board passed changes to COVID-19 restrictions for the entire county.
The rules now become recommendations.
On May 11, when 60% of eligible Missoula County residents receive their first injection of a COVID-19 vaccine, the mask mandate will be lifted and become a recommendation.
For large gatherings of 50 people or more, you should still keep the masks on.
Things like social distancing in public areas, such as bars and businesses, will also become a recommendation starting Thursday, April 15.
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Missoula City-County Health Environmental Director Shannon Therriault emphasized at the Missoula County Health Board meeting on Thursday that Missoulians still have the ability to follow CDC recommendations they see fit.
“Really the expectation and the hope is that most people in Missoula will still wear face coverings when it comes to recommendations, especially in public places where it is difficult to maintain a distance of six feet,” said Therriault.
The health officer can reinstate the mandatory use of face cover if the incidence of new COVID-19 cases rises, more than 25 cases per 100,000 people on a 7-day moving average.
CEO Ross Miller said, “I have received a tremendous amount of feedback from the community on how well the county has done running the vaccination clinics.”
Officials said this will be a step towards our old normal.
“People, especially in Missoula, followed what we had to follow, and now we’re getting out,” said Therriault.
About 33 percent of Missoula County’s total population is fully vaccinated, health official Ellen Leahy said Thursday.