ST. LOUIS — St. Louis residents, tourists and business owners woke up to a new reality Sunday morning as the city’s indoor mask mandate expired Saturday at 11:59 p.m.
Downtown, Missouri Valley Conference “Arch Madness” basketball fans cried “Boo!” as they walked past Chicago resident Zach Harrington. He was wearing a Loyola University jersey over his clothing.
“We beat them on Friday,” said Harrington. “They’re still a little upset about it.”
Indeed, Loyola basketball fans, whose team played in the championship game Sunday afternoon, have a lot more than the end of a mask mandate in St. Louis and at the Enterprise Center to be excited about.
Still, Harrington said, “Coming from Chicago, we just got our mandate lifted, last week. So, we were definitely monitoring it. Having it lifted this morning was definitely a nice treat.”
There were a lot of tourists from Chicago downtown Sunday.
Dmitriy Treyger was asked if he is glad to see St. Louis’ mask mandate go away.
“I think it makes sense,” said Treyger.
Tyeise Huntley, another tourist from Chicago, said, “I’m vaccinated. My family is all vaccinated — the ones that can be — and it’s been two years.”
The steaming food coming out of the kitchen at BLT’s Restaurant must be what keeps people lining up at the register. Between checking out customers, owner James Heredia said the end of the mask mandate is icing on some pretty good cake.
“Let’s get back together, St. Louis,” said Heredia, “we need to unite and get our lives going, again.”
At Schnucks locations in St. Louis, masks are no longer required inside. Still, some shoppers remain cautious.
“It’s just not safe,” said Tori Hill, who lives and shops downtown. “No one’s really being careful, anymore, and it just makes me nervous to find out what’s going to happen next.”
Masks are still required on MetroLink and MetroBus. You’ll also need one at St. Louis-Lambert International Airport and inside the Gateway Arch.