Clayton County Schools leaders said that on Monday they will lift a mask mandates for adults in buildings that has been in place for the past seven months.

The south metro Atlanta school system, which announced the decision on Friday, instituted the mandate in July 2022 to combat a rise of COVID-19 infections at the time. The directive, which also applied to visitors to school campuses, did not mandate face coverings for students.

“District officials have been carefully monitoring the data from federal and state sources and believe that this is the right decision at this time,” the district said in its Friday announcement. “This decision does not prohibit anyone, adult or student, from wearing a mask or a face covering while in one of our facilities.”

Clayton leaders said they will continue to monitor COVID-19 infections from local, state, and federal health agencies and will make future decisions based on data the district receives.