The mask requirement at the University of Colorado-Boulder will end next week, school officials announced Monday morning, citing “several encouraging trends with regard to COVID-19 transmission.”

Beginning March 7, masks will only be recommended at indoor spaces on campus, with the exception of the university’s Wardenburg Health Center. The shift comes shortly after Boulder County ended its longstanding order and after much of the metro area dropped its own face-covering requirements.

In a statement posted to the university’s website Monday, Provost Russell Moore and chief operating officer Patrick O’Rourke wrote that there’s been a “rapid decline in transmission on our campus, in Boulder County and across the state, as well as a significant decrease in COVID-19-related hospitalizations.” They also cited a shift to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance, which loosened the threshold for when masks are recommended in a community. 

The two administrators asked the campus community to be respectful of others’ choices, now that masking will become an individual responsibility, and they encouraged those who would rather keep wearing face-coverings to do so.

The university will continue its booster reporting requirement, and it will also keep offering testing, vaccinations and masks on campus. 

The shift comes as part of a broader move across Colorado and the country away from broad pandemic responses. Denver ended its employee and high-risk worker vaccine mandate last week, and its top health official said mandates of any kind are no longer needed. Gov. Jared Polis said last week that vaccinated Coloradans can live their normal lives again.