COVID-19 Health Orders To Be Lifted Tuesday In Ohio

OHIO — After more than a year of health orders, daily COVID-19 numbers, vaccination reports, protests, counter protests, and more, Ohio is lifting its statewide health orders.

On Tuesday, the Buckeye State's mask mandate and social distancing guidelines will be removed. While individual businesses and school districts can continue to enforce their own masking rules, the state will no longer ask residents to don masks in public.

The decision to remove all of the state's remaining COVID-19 health orders was announced May 12. Gov. Mike DeWine said "individual responsibility must take hold" and urged Ohioans to get vaccinated against the virus.

"The danger of remaining unvaccinated is crystal clear. The virus is still here. Our cases are down, but that's because 42 percent of our population has been vaccinated, and those people can no longer get the virus or spread it," DeWine said when announced the removal of the health orders.

To further spur vaccinations around the state, DeWine announced the Vax-a-Million lottery giveaway, which awards $1 million to five randomly selected, and vaccinated, Ohioans. The first winner was a 22-year-old from central Ohio. Four additional winners will be announced on subsequent Wednesdays.

Ohio has seen an increase in COVID-19 vaccinations since the announcement of the Vax-a-Million lottery, though it's unclear if the program will continue to spur further vaccinations.

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