Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

MINNEAPOLIS — Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey announced Tuesday that the city is lifting its COVID-19 mask requirement that has been in place since May 2020.

The city imposed the indoor mask mandate two months before Gov. Tim Walz issued a statewide face covering order. Frey said the fact that more than 78% of residents have received at least one dose of vaccine convinced him to scrap the masks. The statewide mask order ended on May 14.

Frey said while he’s pleased with the city’s vaccination rates, his team will continue reaching out to vulnerable neighborhoods in an effort to promote shots.

Private businesses are free to set their own policies now that the city’s mandate has expired.

“If they choose to continue the mask mandate we certainly support them in that,” Frey said.

Frey noted that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still recommends that those who are not fully vaccinated should continue to wear masks. He said regulation based on a person’s vaccination status is “very hard if not impossible.”

As of Tuesday afternoon, the city of St. Paul continued to have a mask mandate in its buildings and at businesses licensed by the city