WESTPORT — Mask wearing will not be required in Westport’s municipal buildings as of Feb. 28.

First Selectwoman Jennifer Tooker announced Friday afternoon the mandate — imposed in December as the infectious Omicron variant of COVID-19 was spreading rapidly — will be lifted as transmission rates have dropped sharply over the last several weeks.

Friday’s transmission rate of the virus in Connecticut was 3.84 percent, down from the nearly 25 percent rate reported at the height of the Omicron surge.

Locally, as Tooker noted, the town’s public schools are also expected to lift the mask mandate Feb. 28.

School officials, under recently granted authority by the state, will likely endorse the recommendation by Supt. of Schools Thomas Scarice to make mask wearing in school buildings optional that day, citing the dramatic drop in COVID cases reported among students and school staff.

This week, according to the school district’s COVID dashboard, only five confirmed cases of the virus were reported, down from 26 cases a week earlier.

Masks may still be required elsewhere in town, Tooker noted, including healthcare facilities, housing for vulnerable populations and on public and private transit.

Also, local businesses and other private institutions still may want to continue requiring visitors to wear masks, a policy that they are allowed to adopt and which the first selectwoman urged people to respect.

“We are comfortable and confident that requiring masks in municipal buildings is no longer a necessity, with the exceptions noted,” Tooker said in her statement.

“Certainly, there are those who will continue to wear a mask in certain circumstances, and we respect and encourage that personal choice,” she added.