CLAYTON, Mo. (AP) — St. Louis County has rescinded its mask mandate, weeks after a Missouri judge barred local health departments from issuing them. The county’s decision was announced Thursday during a court hearing in a lawsuit that Republican Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt filed in July in response to a previous mask mandate. In November, Cole County Circuit Judge Daniel Green declared that health orders issued by local authorities under state health regulations were “null and void.” Also Thursday, Laclede County’s health department announced it would stop all COVID-19 related work after Schmitt threatened legal action against health departments and school districts in response to Green’s ruling.