By AARON SANDERFORD <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/briefs/omahas-mask-mandate-is-lifted-by-health-director-huse/">Nebraska Examiner</a>OMAHA — Masks are no longer mandated in Omaha.Dr. Lindsay Huse, health director for the 
City of Omaha and for the Douglas County Health Department, lifted the 
mask mandate Wednesday for certain indoor spaces in Omaha.Huse, in her role as city health director, 
announced the change by press release from the county health department,
 shortly after people at City Hall were notified that the change was 
coming.Mayor Jean Stothert is home this week after being diagnosed with COVID-19, but her staff said she was asymptomatic.There was no immediate word on how or 
whether the elimination of the mandate might impact the State of 
Nebraska’s lawsuit against Huse and the city regarding the mask 
mandate.&nbsp;Huse enacted the mask requirement Jan. 12.The state has argued that Huse, by nature of her county job, needed state approval to require masks, which she did not obtain.The judge, at least in the early stages of court proceedings, appeared to side with Huse and the city’s lawyers.She wrote that Huse appears to have derived 
her authority from the Omaha City Council and Omaha city code. That 
means it appeared to the judge that Huse could enact the requirement on 
her own.Suzanne Gage, a spokeswoman for Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson, said the state wants the lawsuit to proceed.“This case has always been about whether Dr.
 Huse has the power to unilaterally&nbsp;issue a mask mandate,” Gage said. 
“That question remains unsettled, and so the State will continue with 
its case.”On Wednesday, the Douglas County Health 
Department announced that “New cases and hospital capacity have reached a
 satisfactory level as set out in the order.”Her order said Omaha was under the 200 cases
 per 100,000 people threshold she had set. It said hospital capacity had
 not held below 85% for seven straight days — another threshold she had 
set —but the order said the number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 
in metro Omaha hospitals continues to fall. It also said vaccination 
rates among younger people locally continue to climb.Huse, in the release, encouraged people to 
get vaccinated for COVID-19 and said it offers the best protection from 
serious illness and death from the disease. She declined to be 
interviewed, citing the state’s lawsuit.The City of Lincoln’s indoor 
mask mandate remains in place through Feb. 25.Countywide, Douglas reported 106 new 
COVID-19 cases since midnight Tuesday. That put the county’s total cases
 since March 2020 at 141,136. Health officials reported two more deaths 
related to COVID-19. Both victims were over 50 and unvaccinated.

Omaha’s mask mandate is lifted by city health director