TAMPA, Fla. — Hillsborough County on Thursday will end its State of Emergency Order because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

When it expires, it will have been in place for two years and five days.

It’s a big milestone as it was the emergency order that allowed the county to require widespread mask usage as well as shut down businesses and events during the height of the pandemic.

The county on Wednesday also plans to shut down its final COVID testing location at the West Tampa Community Center, although it says dozens of private testing locations at local pharmacies and grocery stores will remain available to residents.

The positivity rate in Hillsborough County is at 2.9%, down from 9.7% in June of last year.

But a new Moffitt Cancer Center study shows the positivity rate may have been much higher than officially reported.

Researchers studied nearly 900 people in Hillsborough County, asking them questions about their behavior during the pandemic and also conducting antibody testing.

Results found antibody evidence of infection in the test group of 19.5%, double the official number.

Researchers also found masks had little to no impact on the spread of the virus, with researches saying nearly 100% of respondents saying they wore masks.

Social distancing did play a role, according to researches, in the spread of the virus.

Moffit says 11% of those studied reported they did nothing to avoid large crowds or gatherings during the pandemic.

Hillsborough County says even though its state of emergency is ending tomorrow, it will continue to monitor COVID-19 numbers, and will be prepared to take action should cases spike again.

Germany and China are now watching numbers rise again with a new “stealth variant” of the COVID-19 virus, which so far is not showing any signs to be more severe than the original variant.