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Citing an unfavorable Cole County court ruling, St. Louis County has ended its requirement for masks to be worn in public indoor places.

There鈥檚 still a chance that the county council could reimplement the mask mandate, but it may not happen for several weeks.

Acting St. Louis County Health Director Faisal Khan announced on Thursday that he was rescinding the mask mandate. He that declared all COVID-19 restrictions that health departments issued to be null and void as well as the county council鈥檚 failure to adopt a mask mandate at its past two meetings.

In a statement, the county health department said its 鈥渟trong recommendation鈥� for residents to wear masks in public indoor spaces remains unchanged.

鈥淎s new COVID cases continue to increase sharply and the Omicron variant of the virus poses an additional threat in the middle of the regular Influenza season, residents should heed the advice of public health: get vaccinated, maintain a safe social distance wherever possible, wash your hands with soap and water frequently and thoroughly and continue to wear masks in all indoor public spaces,鈥� the statement read.

In a statement on Twitter, St. Louis County Executive Sam Page, a strong proponent of mask mandates, said: 鈥淏ecause of the Cole County order & the council鈥檚 decision not to approve a new face covering order, the Dept. of Public Health director this morning rescinded the prior face covering order.鈥�

鈥淭he Health Dept. continues to recommend masks in indoor settings,鈥� Page 鈥淐ovid cases are rising.鈥�

The council could adopt a mask mandate, but it would likely have to go through the regular legislative process, which typically can take several weeks to complete. And there has been strong opposition by at least three of the seven council members.

Councilman Ernie Trakas, a south St. Louis County Republican and an opponent of mask mandates, said he鈥檚 not sure what the actual impact of council action would be when Page鈥檚 administration is not actively enforcing an indoor mask requirement.

鈥淲e鈥檇 be right back where we were, that we鈥檝e got this 鈥榤andate鈥� that by the administration鈥檚 own acknowledgment and the county counselor鈥檚 own acknowledgement is not going to be enforced,鈥� Trakas said. 鈥淚 suppose that some businesses can use that as a pretext to require masks. But even in that situation, you go into a Walgreens anywhere in the county and some people are wearing masks and others aren鈥檛.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 know if a council action anointing some sort of mandate is going to change the reality that we have this statement that claims to be a mandate that the administration on its own acknowledges it鈥檚 not going to enforce,鈥� he added.

Earlier this week, Page reiterated that mask mandates are effective 鈥�

鈥淎 lot of people will do the right thing when they鈥檙e told to do so. And that鈥檚 why the mask mandate has been effective,鈥� Page said. 鈥淎nd that鈥檚 why in St. Louis County, we have less disease and less death than other places in the state that don鈥檛 have a mask mandate in place.鈥�

Follow Jason on Twitter: @jrosenbaum