Colorado students won’t need to wear masks when they head back to school, but unvaccinated staff and visitors to jails, homeless shelters and hospitals still are required to wear face coverings.

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment announced the changes to public health rules meant to control COVID-19 on Thursday afternoon. The new rules will remain in effect until Aug. 1.

The city and county of Denver also announced changes to its COVID-19 rules. As of Thursday, children younger than 11 are no longer required to wear face masks in any public place in the city, and organizations hosting events with more than 2,000 people no longer have to get permission from the Denver Department of Public Health and Environment.

Previously, staff and children 11 and older who weren’t vaccinated were required to wear masks in schools in Colorado. Going forward, the only public settings where people who aren’t fully vaccinated will need to mask up are: homeless shelters, prisons, jails and health care facilities.

Everyone is still required to wear masks on public transit, under federal rules, and in public hearings in Colorado courts. The state order also “strongly encouraged” those facilities to test unvaccinated staff with either a rapid test every day, or a weekly test looking for the virus’s genetic material. It doesn’t lay out any consequences for facilities that don’t, though.

This story is from DenverPost.com.