ERVING — The Board of Health voted Wednesday to rescind the townwide mask mandate, effective Feb. 28.
The decision came in response to the state’s announcement Wednesday morning that indoor mask requirements for school buildings and child care settings will be lifted on Feb. 28.
Board of Health Clerk Betsy Sicard added that Health Agent Charlie Kaniecki had been “leaning toward” lifting the mandate due to a downward trend in positive COVID-19 cases in Erving. Board member Jeff McAndrews, who made the motion to lift the town’s mandate, said he had been leaning in the same direction as he’s feeling “cautiously optimistic” about the data.
“As far as I’ve seen,” he said, “everything has seemed to have starkly dropped off.”
Data presented at Wednesday’s meeting, sourced from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), included countywide statistics that contrasted the most current data with data recorded at the time Erving enacted its mask mandate on Jan. 13.
The data from January showed 1,075 positive COVID-19 cases across Franklin County, whereas Wednesday’s figure was less than half that amount at 446 cases. Vaccination rates increased slightly as well, with 69.8% of the county’s population vaccinated in the most recent CDC data, whereas 68.4% had been vaccinated by the Jan. 13 meeting. Finally, the data compared hospitalization numbers, with Jan. 13’s number of hospital admissions from the prior week sitting at 20, whereas the week prior to Wednesday yielded 13 admissions.
Despite moving to lift the mandate, McAndrews made clear a desire for the town to follow state Department of Public Health guidance. He particularly referenced the state’s policy of mask-wearing for those following a five-day isolation or quarantine period.
“I want to put something out that supports the guidance that the state (has given),” he said. “I don’t know what that’s going to look like yet.”
Reach Julian Mendoza at 413-772-0261, ext. 261 or jmendoza@recorder.com.