photo by: Journal-World

The west side of the Douglas County Courthouse, 1100 Massachusetts St., is pictured on Sept. 23, 2021.

Story updated at 9:28 p.m. Wednesday:

Douglas County commissioners at their meeting Wednesday allowed the countywide mask mandate to expire at midnight, but that doesn’t mean residents will be able to go maskless in county government buildings come Thursday.

County Administrator Sarah Plinsky told the Journal-World via email that mask requirements for county government buildings would remain in place for the time being. She noted that masks were already required in public buildings before the January public health order went into effect. That will not change for the time being, she said.

As of Wednesday afternoon, the City of Lawrence did not have immediate plans to change its mask guidance. City spokesperson Porter Arneill said that the city continues to base its COVID-related precautions for both city buildings and city staff on Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health’s community transmission indicator, which classifies the community in one of three zones based on the number of active cases and the 14-day moving average of new cases. The county’s transmission level is currently in the yellow zone, which recommends masks for indoor public places.

Arneill said that based on the transmission indicator, the city would continue to strongly encourage mask-wearing in its buildings. He said once the indicator was in the green zone, that recommendation would change — the green zone recommends masks specifically for unvaccinated people in public places. Arneill said that if the indicator changed, the city would post signs on its buildings that say masks are optional.

Lawrence school district spokesperson Julie Boyle said the district’s current mask rules would remain in effect. The district currently requires masks in all of its buildings. Boyle said Wednesday evening that the district would consider any information from the County Commission’s meeting along with the updated guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and transmission data tracked by Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health. She said if district administration determines that changes to the district’s mitigation strategies are appropriate, it will share that information with staff, school families and the media.

A spokeswoman for the University of Kansas said the university intends to provide guidance to its students and staff following this evening’s Douglas County Commission meeting, after it becomes official that the county won’t extend the mask mandate.

The expiration of the countywide mask mandate will mean that businesses and organizations can choose to no longer require masks as a condition of entry into their buildings. However, businesses and organizations can choose to make their own rules specific to their own buildings and locations that require masks continue to be worn.

At the moment, Douglas County government is choosing to keep those site-specific regulations in place for Douglas County governmental buildings, Plinsky said. That includes buildings in addition to the main courthouse at 11th and Massachusetts streets.

Plinsky said the Judicial and Law Enforcement Center continues to require masks under an administrative order from Chief Judge James R. McCabria, which remains in place, and the Douglas County Jail and Juvenile Detention Center require masking due to federal regulations.

Plinsky said the county is currently reviewing its procedures, but they’ll remain the same as they are now until a formal change is approved.

Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention relaxed its guidance related to masks. The new guidance ranks communities based on whether the virus poses a high risk of overwhelming hospital resources in a community. The CDC currently ranks Douglas County in the code yellow medium category, which is one category below where the CDC begins recommending that masks be worn by the general population.

— Reporters Austin Hornbostel, Rochelle Valverde and Editor Chad Lawhorn contributed to this report.)