Minnesota Report

Today, St Paul Mayor Melvin Carter III made the Capitol City a freer place to live, work and breath. In the following statement he called for an end to the city’s mask mandate.

Here is the complete release.

Today, Saint Paul Mayor Melvin Carter signed Executive Order 2021-25 lifting the City of Saint Paul’s mask requirement. The lifting of the mask requirement comes following promising COVID-related public health metric trends amid ongoing vaccination efforts with Saint Paul-Ramsey County Public Health (SP-RCPH).

“Thanks to the heroic efforts of our health care providers, Saint Paul is poised to meet the benchmarks set by local public health experts in a matter of days,” said Mayor Melvin Carter. “But our work is not done; we urge all residents to continue taking precautions and to get vaccinated as soon as possible.”

ABOUT EXECUTIVE ORDER 2021-25

On May 14, following the statewide mask mandate lifting and amid ongoing efforts to increase vaccination rates across the city, the Mayor signed Executive Order 2021-21 requiring facemasks to be worn indoors in all city-controlled facilities and at all businesses licensed by the City of Saint Paul at all times when social distancing of at least 6 feet is not maintained, except for temporary removal of face covering when eating or drinking. This order also strongly encouraged all businesses to continue to require that all individuals wear a face covering indoors at all times when social distancing of at least 6 feet is not maintained. At the time of the order, just over 292,000 Ramsey County residents had received at least one dose of the vaccine.

As of June 1, according to data from SP-RCPH, 70.6% of Ramsey County residents ages 12 and older have received at least one dose of the vaccine, and case rates, positivity rates, and hospitalizations continue to decline deeply. While we have not yet reached the SP-RCPH vaccination goal of 55% of residents ages 16 and older receiving at least one dose of a vaccine in every zip code, vaccination rates continue to increase and local public health officials anticipate that with our ongoing vaccination efforts the one remaining zip code in which we have not yet reached this target (55130 with 52% vaccination rate as of May 28) will meet this goal in the coming week.

Following these promising trends, today’s Executive Order 2021-25 rescinds the previous order and lifts the mask requirement for city-controlled facilities and licensed businesses in the City of Saint Paul. All remaining and applicable executive orders and associated guidance issued by Ramsey County, the State of Minnesota and/or CDC relative to the wearing of face coverings continue to have full force and effect within the City of Saint Paul, including masking inside schools under the State’s Safe Learning Plan.

While they will no longer be required, masks are still encouraged in city-controlled facilities for unvaccinated visitors and employees. Private entities may still require masks if they so choose and City of Saint Paul employees will follow those requirements.

Outreach and vaccination work will continue in collaboration with SP-RCPH toward the goal of exceeding 55% vaccination rates to reach 70% vaccination rates in all zip codes with a focus on communities of color including people who have been disproportionately affected by COVID illness, hospitalization and death. Information on free vaccine availability can be found on the Saint Paul-Ramsey County Public Health website at ramseycounty.us/CovidVaccine and companion translated web pages.

Learn more about Executive Order 2021-25.