HYATTSVILLE, Md. — Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks announced that the county has expanded its indoor mask mandate to include children ages 2 to 5 years old starting Wednesday.
This means residents and visitors over the age of 2 are required to wear masks in all indoor public venues and businesses in Prince George’s County, Alsobrooks said. The only exceptions will be for eating and drinking, or those with a disability that prevents mask-wearing.
The previous mask mandate only included county residents over the ages of 5 years old.
"As a parent, I know it is not easy to mask younger children, but we are doing this based on the data that we have and out of a grave concern for our children many of whom are getting sick," Alsobrooks said. "We believe, at this point, this is what is necessary at protecting them."
She added that out of concern about the spike in teen COVID-19 cases, the county is just going to have to do more to protect children and to stop the spread of the virus.
Alsobrooks said that over 82% of adults in the county have received at least one dose of a vaccine according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Data also shows the county’s positivity rate has dropped below 4.0% for the first time July. And the county’s infection rate has also decreased to 0.93 as of Sept. 27.
Although Alsobrooks said there is some progress in the right direction, the county is still seeing an increase in community transmission since July.
With the Delta-variant becoming the prominent and contagious strand of the COVID-19 virus, the county government is working to finalize its employee vaccination policy. The county is in the process of asking employees to submit their vaccination status.
View the full news conference here:
To view the county's latest COVID-19 data, including vaccination numbers, you can view the County’s COVID-19 Dashboard.
For booster shot information in the DMV, click below:
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