Austin Public Health hosted its biweekly update on the COVID-19 situation in the Austin area Friday morning.
The health officials said wearing masks in public spaces is now optional, unless a business requires customers to wear them. It's strongly recommended people who aren't fully vaccinated continue wearing masks in public.
The news conference came a few days after Austin moved down to stage 2 of APH’s risk-based guidelines. Also this week, Gov. Greg Abbott issued an order barring local governments and school districts from requiring people to wear face coverings.
Austin’s Chief Medical Officer Dr. Mark Escott, Interim APH Director Adrienne Sturrup, Chief Epidemiologist Janet Pichette and APH Chief Administrative Officer for Disease Prevention and Health Promotion Cassandra Deleon answered questions from news outlets.
