Several area boards of health have passed local indoor mask mandates, with more still expected to consider one in the coming week.
To date, boards of health in Conway, Buckland, Leyden, Charlemont, Gill and Rowe have approved indoor mask mandates, according to Cooperative Public Health Service (CPHS) Health Agent Randy Crochier. Bernardston Board of Health voted, instead, to issue a recommendation for indoor mask wearing.
Colrain, Shelburne and Heath are expected to consider a mandate at upcoming meetings, he said.
“I think these towns are trying to use everything they can in their toolbox to reduce the spread,” said Phoebe Walker, director of Community Services at Franklin Regional Council of Governments.
Greenfield – though not a member of CPHS – independently considered an indoor mask mandate late last month, but the Board of Health ultimately tabled a motion to do so in favor of monitoring the situation further. Masks are required, however, in municipal buildings.
Crochier said in response to rising COVID numbers locally and statewide — largely due to the delta variant — Cooperative Public Health Service reviewed several local mask mandates in an effort to draft one that best suited its member-towns.
“We brought it to the Oversight Board and they … tweaked the words to what they thought was best for our area,” he said. “They’re very aware of what goes on in their communities and want to make sure that it helps and protects their communities, without making it incredibly burdensome on businesses.”
Ultimately, the Oversight Board endorsed an indoor mask mandate as a district, with the expectation that each individual town would vote on it separately. While Crochier said the mandate specifies masks for individuals ages 5 and up — unless medically exempted — towns could adjust it to the needs of their respective community.
“Fortunately, we’re in Franklin County, and we have a lot of space and we’re still comparatively low,” Crochier said. “We will be paying attention to the numbers and bringing it back to the (Oversight Board) no less than monthly.”
Buckland Board of Health Chair Marti Taft Ferguson, who is a representative for the town on the Oversight Board, said while there was a range of opinions — from supporting a mask recommendation to a mask mandate –— there was an overall consensus that it made most sense to work “in a regional manner.” Her board approved a mandate on Monday, which goes into effect Sept. 9.
“People here and everywhere have been whiplashed by COVID,” she said. “It didn’t make sense to have wildly different mandates.”
More recently, Conway Board of Health approved an indoor mask mandate at a special meeting Thursday evening.
“We wanted to do what was best for the safety and well-being of our residents,” said Chair Jackie Choate. “This mandate, or this order, we will revisit regularly as we know the situation is going to be changing.”
In Leyden, the Board of Health met Aug. 26 and voted to implement the new, town-wide indoor mask mandate, according to Chair Beth Kuzdeba.
Gill Board of Health Chair Jeffrey Blomstedt said the statewide rise in COVID cases influenced his board’s decision to support an indoor mask mandate, which went into effect Aug. 19. He said board members discussed the need to protect children, who are not yet eligible to receive a vaccine.
“Masking is something we’ve been through before,” he said. “It’s not a big inconvenience.”
The mandate requires masks “for all individuals aged two years and above in all indoor public spaces, or private spaces open to the public except where an individual is unable to wear a face covering due to a medical condition or disability.”
Additionally, food service establishment customers may only remove face coverings when seated when indoors, and indoor bar venue customers may only remove face coverings when seated. Houses of worship are also covered by this order.
While most towns supported a mandate, Bernardston Board of Health Co-Chair Jean Page said members met and voted instead for a recommendation for indoor mask wearing.
“We feel it will be equally effective in a time when the public knows that their best bet is to get vaccinated, and if they’re not vaccinated, they know they should be wearing a mask — all of this is info that is out there,” Page said.
Mask recommendation signs from the Franklin Regional Council of Governments will be provided to business and indoor establishments, she said. Page acknowledged that “every town is different,” but said Board of Health members “felt a recommendation was the way to go, and might be more useful in this community.”
“We didn’t think a mask mandate would be more useful than a recommendation,” Page explained. “With a mandate, you need to enforce it and in some communities that causes more agitation than compliance. At this point, people know what they should be doing. We’re not looking to agitate people, we’re just looking to protect people.”
“Therefore it seems prudent to take serious steps to minimize transmission of the virus,” reads the mandate. “The best way to protect our children is to keep the adults disease-free, and the best way to do that is to require masks and social distancing indoors and in groups.”
For some businesses, a town-wide mask mandate reinforces independent practices that are already in place.
Salmon Falls Gallery Director Donna Gates said the gallery, at 1 Ashfield St. in Shelburne Falls, has already had an independent mask mandate in place. While the gallery did open without a need for masks for a short time earlier this summer, the handful of staff members decided to return to mask wearing amid news of the delta variant and COVID case increases.
“We decided a while ago, when things started ramping back up again,” Gates said of their mandate. “I checked in with staff, and the staff felt uncomfortable without it.… The gallery attracts people from all over, so it isn’t like we’re just seeing people from right around here.”
The Wagon Wheel owner Carolann Zaccara said the town-wide mask mandate won’t have much of an impact for the drive-in and dine-in restaurant at 39 French King Highway in Gill. She said they had decided to reinstate an employee mask mandate two days prior to the Gill Board of Health’s town-wide indoor mask-mandate being put in place on Aug. 19.
Customers, for the most part, have been wearing masks when not at their tables for indoor dining and have not typically been wearing masks for outdoor dining, Zaccara said. Even before the new mandate took effect, she noticed more people choosing on their own to wear masks again.
“I’m definitely noticing that over the last few weeks it’s been increasing again,” she said. “More people are wearing them [masks], even outside.”
Mary Byrne can be reached at mbyrne@recorder.com or 413-9 30-4429. Twitter: @MaryEByrne. Zack DeLuca can be reached at zdeluca@recorder.com or 413-930-4579.