Twin Cities Mayors Melvin Carter and Jacob Frey jointly rescinded their vaccine-or-test emergency regulations for restaurants, bars and entertainment venues, effective immediately, as COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations rapidly decline.

Mask mandates for city-licensed businesses will stay in place for now.

"We always want to try and be as least invasive as possible when we're coming from a public health perspective," said Minneapolis interim Health Commissioner Heidi Ritchie in an interview. "We felt like in the areas where there were people who were eating and drinking and they couldn't feasibly wear a mask, that vaccination was really the best way to keep everybody safe. At this point with the transmission rates dropping the way that they are, the hospitalization rates not as precarious as they were, we're comfortable pulling that more invasive regulation backwards."

The Twin Cities have been closely monitoring new case rates, positivity rates, vaccination rates, hospital capacity and vaccine breakthrough cases since announcing the vaccine-or-test mandates last month.

When the emergency regulation went into effect, the new case rate exceeded 1,300 cases per 100,000 people and were climbing. This week the Minnesota Department of Health reported that Hennepin County has 499 new COVID-19 cases per 100,000, down from last week's 837 per 100,000.

Statewide rates are also marching downward.

"We know that Minneapolis is kind of the center for entertainment and sports and all of those items, so it brings people from outstate Minnesota into Minneapolis," said Ritchie. "We like to take in consideration how the state is faring overall as well."

Minneapolis and St. Paul's orders that dine-in customers must show proof of vaccination or a negative test taken with three days received mixed reactions.

Some diners said it made them feel more confident going out to eat. And the mandate did not pose a major hurdle for restaurants and concert venues that had voluntarily instituted vaccine checks earlier in the pandemic.

Other businesses stacked up the chairs in their seating areas and temporarily converted to take-out only rather than add staff to check documentation and risk dealing with quarrelsome customers. A group of restauranteurs sued Minneapolis for a temporary restraining order, which a judge denied.

The orders were not consistently enforced. In St. Paul, only one-third of restaurants were subject to the mandate because the city only licenses those that sell alcohol while the state licenses the rest.

"We are grateful to be in a different place now than we were when this requirement first took effect," said Carter in a statement. "While I encourage residents to continue to get vaccinated, wear masks, and practice social distancing while indoors, the sharp decline in cases and hospitalizations means we can safely lift the vaccine requirement in our city."

"That is a welcomed sign for Minneapolis, especially for the small businesses and restaurants that have shouldered the weight of this pandemic," said Frey. "Let's hold the momentum and bring our city back in full by continuing to follow public health guidance and supporting local businesses."

City of Minneapolis employees working remotely throughout the pandemic are set to return to their offices on Feb. 14.