Prince George’s County’s indoor mask mandate will continue until at least Dec. 9, unless the county executive amends or terminates the mandate at an earlier date, according to a resolution passed by the county council.
The mask mandate was originally intended to expire on Monday after County Executive Angela Alsobrooks signed an executive order Oct. 1 to extend the mandate.
The county originally reinstated its indoor mask mandate earlier this year on August 8. Just days later, the University of Maryland also announced that it would also adopt an indoor mask mandate to comply with the county order.
Businesses that do not comply with the resolution may face fines up to $1,000 or closure, according to the resolution.
[UMD suspends QR code contact tracing strategy due to lack of effectiveness]
The decision comes as the county’s positivity rate decreased to 2.3 percent this week, according to the county’s COVID-19 dashboard.
“COVID-19 continues to pose an imminent threat to the health, safety and welfare of County residents,” the resolution reads. “[S]everal relevant metrics are now in the medium or high level of disease transmission for the key metrics, and there is continued concern over community spread of new COVID-19 variants.”
Neighboring Montgomery County’s mask mandate is set to expire Thursday.
