Ralston dropped its mandate to wear masks on Tuesday evening, beating Omaha in wrapping up the coronavirus requirement.

The Ralston City Council voted unanimously to immediately lift the city’s mask requirement after initially planning to follow the City in Omaha in lifting the rule at the end of next Tuesday.

“This is a really big moment,” Ralston City Administrator Rick Hoppe told council members. “Vaccinations are working. Mask mandates were an important transition to that, and now it’s time to talk about what we do next.”

Omaha’s mandate was established by an ordinance signed Sept. 4, 2020. Ralston operated under an order from the city Board of Health signed Nov. 19, 2020.

Ralston’s mandate let either the Board of Health or the City Council vote to rescind the rules. When the CDC announced that fully vaccinated people generally do not need to wear masks anymore, officials in Ralston were able to act swiftly, while Omaha would require council action that typically would take longer than simply allowing the mandate to expire, which city officials indicated they already intended to do.

The Ralston City Council was originally going to follow Omaha in letting the mandate expire at the end of next Tuesday, but Hoppe said conversations with police and Ralston Arena officials made it clear that there would be no practical way to enforce it once a vote was taken to repeal the mandate.

“In short, we thought it just didn’t make sense,” Hoppe said.

Ralston Arena has a concert today and an Omaha Beef game Saturday, both which are expected to draw significant crowds. With the mask mandate dropped, the arena plans to strongly encourage but not enforce masking. Arena staff will still be wearing masks.

Private businesses in Ralston are now free to decide how they want to address patrons and employees wearing masks.

Dr. Audi Pour, director of the Douglas County Health Department recently praised the results of vaccinations efforts. COVID-19 vaccinations remain readily available to those who want them.

“There should not be any barriers for anybody who wants to get vaccinated,” Pour said at a news conference earlier this month.

As of Monday evening, 54.6% of Douglas County residents are fully vaccinated.

Download a copy of Ralston’s amended resolution on masks at omahadailyrecord.com.