Jefferson County's face-mask mandate will end 10 days earlier than expected, public health officials announced Monday.

The public health order requiring people to be masked while in indoor, public places will end at 11:59 p.m. Friday, March 11.

The restrictions will end at the same time the state of Washington ends its masking order.

Moving the date up was a tough but necessary call, said Dr. Allison Berry, Health Officer for Jefferson County.

“I am making this difficult decision because it is frankly untenable to maintain our mask mandate longer,” Berry said.

“However, I continue to strongly recommend masking in indoor spaces until our case rates reach a safer threshold,” she added.

County health officials said the date change follows updated guidance the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that was issued last week.

Berry said she will continue to recommend that people voluntarily wear masks indoors.

The current two-week case rate in Jefferson County is 525 per 100,000 people.

She has consistently said a case rate of fewer than 100 cases per 100,000 people over a 14-day period needs to be met before unmasking in indoor spaces should be considered safe.

Berry also recommended that high-risk individuals wait until the case rate drops below 50 cases per 100,000 before unmasking.

Businesses can still require visitors to wear masks, even after the mask mandate ends later this month.

Berry encouraged the community to support the decision of any businesses that choose to maintain a masking policy.