Los Angeles County will not reinstitute a universal indoor public mask mandate after marked improvements in the region’s coronavirus case and hospitalization rates.

Aside from scuttling the order, which would have taken effect Friday, the recent downward trends are fueling some optimism that the months-old COVID wave fueled by hyper-infectious Omicron subvariants is finally starting to wane.

“We’re on a decline right now,” L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said Thursday. “We’re glad to see this. It would be welcome relief if this current surge has peaked.”