ORLANDO, Fla. — Orange County is working with the Florida Department of Health on a phased plan to reduce requirements for mask wearing and social distancing in the county, Mayor Jerry Demings said Monday.

“We knew we would not be in this phase forever where we would be requiring people to needlessly wear facial coverings," Demings said at a regular coronavirus news briefing, "so I believe that when we look at those who are perhaps eating in restaurants, there are some modifications that I think can be made there.” 

“Suffice it to say that does not mean that no one will be requested or required to wear facial coverings,” he added. “I think that we’re still a few months away from that, but it’ll be a phased approach as we move toward the summer months.”

Demings in June signed an executive order that required all residents, workers and visitors to wear a mask while in any public place. During the summer, county compliance strike teams began to visit businesses to enforce COVID-19 safety guidelines, including mask wearing and social distancing.

Demings said discussion of a phased approach to relaxing those guidelines came from consideration of the county’s vaccination and infection rates and from modifications in guidelines from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

More than 50% of residents age 40 and older have at least one shot, and the positivity rate in the county stands at around 7%, Demings said.

Last month, the CDC said it would relax social distancing guidelines from six feet to three feet for children in schools. The agency still recommended six feet of distance between adults in schools and between adults and children in schools.

Demings said the county would continue to monitor CDC guidelines, which he said continue to evolve.

“So, with those three things, we will come back with a phased approach that hopefully will make common sense to most people why we’re doing things in the manner in which we’re doing them,” Demings said.

His comments came as the county’s rolling 14-day average positivity rate, as Demings acknowledged, has crept up in recent weeks after decreasing to near 5%. Also, county health officials continue to raise concern about increased infection rates in younger residents.

Epidemiologist Alvina Chu of the Florida Department of Health in Orange County said Monday that, at 10%, the county’s 5-14 age group has the county’s highest positivity rate for COVID-19 testing.

Demings’ comments also came as the county announced openings of vaccination sites at Barber Park this week; at Bravo supermarket stores on Narcoossee Road in the Lake Nona area on Thursday and on North Semoran Boulevard on Friday; at Orlando’s Mexican consulate on Saturday and Sunday; and at Orlando International Airport’s popup site on Friday.

Also, Demings said, the federally supported site at Valencia College West reported no waiting time for vaccinations on Monday. The site remains open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. seven days a week, with “lots of inventory” of the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine, Demings said.

“The availability of vaccine within our community is ramping up significantly,” he said, “and we will begin campaigns to deal with vaccine hesitancy and all of those things as we move forward as a community.”