BERNARDSTON — The Board of Health has approved a mask mandate for all indoor public spaces, including businesses and town-owned buildings, effective Monday.
The board’s vote on Thursday comes in the wake of rising COVID-19 cases in Bernardston and surrounding communities.
“A week ago we had six cases, and then this week they’re reporting 14, so that’s a pretty big jump,” Board of Health Co-Chair Barbara Killeen said Friday. “Northfield has jumped from 3 to 11. … Given that so many other towns around the area are facing this huge jump, we’re looking at some pretty high numbers coming down the road I think.”
Bernardston is not the only Franklin County community to revive its mask mandate, with Greenfield’s mandate for all indoor public spaces also going into effect Monday. Others, like Montague, have a mask mandate specifically for town-owned buildings.
According to Killeen, Bernardston had a mask mandate in effect up until a couple months ago, when the low number of positive COVID-19 cases prompted the Board of Health to lift the mandate.
“The Board of Health decided that numbers looked pretty low,” she recalled. “We had, like, one or two people in town who had COVID.”
Killeen said she expects the Board of Health will assess the need for a mandate on a month-to-month basis.
“It’s a neighborly thing to do,” she said of mask wearing. “We hope people will take the opportunity to be good neighbors and wear a mask.”
Reach Shelby Ashline at 413-772-0261, ext. 270 or sashline@recorder.com.