The Montgomery County Council on Tuesday lifted the county’s mask mandate and raised capacity limits for indoor dining starting May 28. The county is now closely aligned with state reopening guidance after charting its own reopening path for a majority of the pandemic.

The council unanimously approved a resolution updating its reopening rules and removing the outdoor mask mandate. Anyone who is fully vaccinated will not have to wear a mask indoors, with some exceptions including schools and health facilities. The county will also remove its outdoor capacity limit and raise its indoor limit to 250 people.

Last week, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan announced the state would drop its outdoor and indoor mask mandate in line with surprise CDC guidance. Hogan said the state would remove all capacity limits on outdoor entertainment and sports venues, indoor entertainment venues, and indoor dining, which he initially announced earlier this month. Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam dropped the commonwealth’s mask mandate that same day.

Montgomery County has been one of the hardest-hit counties in Maryland during the pandemic and largely trailed behind state reopening guidance. On April 27, the county adopted a fifth version of changes to its reopening rules after it reported that 50% of residents received at least their first vaccine dose; this allowed gathering limits to increase to 50 people indoors and 100 people outdoors and let businesses that don’t sell food or drinks increase their capacity to 50%.

On Monday, the county moved into its next phase of reopening after reporting that 60% of residents received at least their first vaccine dose. The new restrictions include dropping the outdoor gathering limit, increasing the indoor gathering limits to 250, and allowing businesses that serve food and drinks, as well as religious facilities, to seat 75% of their maximum capacity. Those changes and removing the mask mandate were approved Tuesday.

“Today didn’t just happen,” said Council Vice President Gabe Albornoz during the meeting. “It wasn’t an accident. It’s the culmination of hours and hours of time spent trying to figure this out.”

Some council members expressed ongoing concerns over vaccination rates among the county’s minority communities. In January, white residents in Montgomery County disproportionately comprised its vaccinated population. As of early April, the county reported that approximately 60% of Black and Latino residents over 65 were vaccinated. Seventy percent of Asian American residents and 65% of white residents in the same age group surveyed were reportedly vaccinated as well.

Still, some councilmembers said closing in on racial disparities in vaccination is the county’s next big challenge.

“In many ways, the hardest part is still ahead of us, and that is extending our vaccination campaign to the thousands of people that have yet to come in,” said councilmember-at-large Hans Riemer during the meeting.