SALEM — Citing a projected drop in hospitalizations next month, Oregon health officials announced an end to indoor mask requirements in public places “no later than March 31.”

That end of March timeline also includes mask requirements inside schools, Oregon Health Authority officials said Monday, Feb. 7.

With the state’s temporary indoor mask mandate rule set to expire Feb. 8, OHA officials needed to file a new permanent rule with the Oregon secretary of state, if they wanted to maintain the requirement. But, in response to vocal criticism of “permanent rules” at hearings last month, state health officials said the mandates wouldn’t last forever.

Now, citing health scientists’ projections that “400 or fewer Oregonians would be hospitalized with COVID-19″ by late March, officials have given a sunset for the rule extension.

“The evidence from Oregon and around the country is clear: masks save lives by slowing the spread of COVID-19,” said state health officer Dr. Dean Sidelinger in a release Feb. 7 announcing the news.

Mounting evidence that omicron cases are declining has led Oregon to join a growing number of states that are relaxing indoor mask rules.

“We should see COVID-19 hospitalizations drop by the end of March because so many Oregonians are wearing masks and taking other steps to protect themselves and each other, such as getting a booster shot or vaccinating their children,” Sidelinger said. “At that point, it will be safer to lift mask rules.”

Hospitalizations remain above 1,000 daily, filling Oregon hospitals. Oregon health officials say the average number of new COVID-19 cases has dropped about 40% over the last week.

“By the end of next month, we’ll be in a place where disease rates should be much lower, hospital capacity much less strained, and we can move to a more individual and community-based approach to masking requirements and mask use,” Sidelinger said.

Although state models show hospitalizations peaking at 1,169 before declining, Sidelinger said Oregon is “past its peak.” The latest numbers from OHA show hospitalizations at 1,092.

There have been 6,181 Oregonians who have died.

OHA officials say the indoor mask mandate could lift sooner if hospitalizations decline at a faster rate than expected. Officials also recommend high-risk individuals continue wearing masks indoors, including people who haven’t been vaccinated and those with compromised immunities.

OHA’s announcement soon puts masking rules back into the hands of businesses or employers.

More than 100 people testified during a recent public hearing on the indoor mask rule, with several folks asking the state to drop the indoor mask requirement immediately.

A hearing on the mask requirement in schools last month yielded a similar response, but the Oregon Health Authority made its school mask requirement permanent as the temporary rule expired.

With the announcement, that rule now has an end date: March 31.

The next eight weeks will give “school districts time to prepare,” OHA officials said. There also may be new guidance from the Oregon Department of Education to keep schools operating as mask rules change.

Sidelinger said state officials will continue to promote universal masking as part of the mitigation efforts that have kept schools open, which reflects current guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Like the general indoor mask mandate, Sidelinger said the mask requirement for K-12 settings may be lifted sooner than March 31 depending on COVID-19 conditions.

“By having a date several weeks out in the future, this will give our local education partners a chance to prepare, if they want to implement requirements of their own at the community level based on conditions that they see, to make other changes that they may need to make to be able to track individuals who are exposed or out sick, and other things that right now depend on universal masks in schools,” he said.