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Date: 1/11/2022
LUDLOW – After receiving correspondence from members of the public about concerns over a lack of masking in public and approving the new return to work policy recommended by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Ludlow Board of Selectmen discussed their thoughts on establishing a mask mandate in town during the Jan. 4 meeting.
Board member James Gennette started the conversation and said he was in favor of vaccinations and masking, but the choice ultimately falls on individuals.
“We have a very big mix of people who have a different opinion about what people should do and how everybody should act. I think masks are a good idea and I think people should be vaccinated. I think it is almost a common courtesy to take care of the person next to you,” he said.
Gennette elaborated and said he was against a mask mandate.
“I do not feel anybody has the right to tell anybody else what they should be able to do in and out of their homes. Businesses I hope would curtail their best efforts related to COVID [-19] to take care of their employees and patrons the best they can,” he said. “I would hate to put a mandate on business that would be egregious and not fit their environment.”
Board Chair Bill Rosenblum said many people in town are wearing masks in public voluntarily.
“As a town we have been consistent with what has been out before us, either by the state or by the CDC. I feel very uncomfortable telling people what to do when it comes to wearing a mask, but in the same sense when other people are telling me no one is wearing masks, I am in Big Y, I go to some of the restaurants and I have to tell you a lot of people are wearing masks,” he said.
Rosenblum added that in many of the businesses he has been in have signage recommending that patrons wear masks but said he would be against a mandate across town.
“I have a hard time telling people what they should do and not do, mandate is a very hard word. I wear it when I go into a business out of respect for others, but it is up to the person at this point,” he said.
Board member Derek DeBarge expressed his frustrations with the changing recommendations from the CDC.
“For this and the CDC guidelines that we got, stay home for five days, mask five days after that, but did any of you catch that if you cannot stay in your house or quarantine just wear a mask for 10 days. It is back and forth; I get viruses change and I get there are different strains. But, for me, what it comes down to is there is so much noise from so many different places on what you should do,” he said. “I just wish everybody would just respect everybody else’s opinion.”
Board member Manuel Silva said he would follow a mask mandate if it were recommended by the town’s Board of Health or the CDC.
“I could not second guess professionals. We have a Board of Health that is doing this day in and day out, we have the CDC doing the same thing, if they were going to say we needed a mandate then I would side with them because I am not going to go against a professional,” he said.
Silva added that he wears a mask because of the current recommendations.
Vice Chair Antonio Goncalves said he already put a mask mandate in place in his business.
“When the Board of Health or CDC says it is a good idea, then I am going to believe it is a good idea. In my office in particular, you do not get in without a mask, and that is a decision we made among our employees with a unanimous vote,” he said.
Ultimately, the board agreed to discuss what to do with masking during a meeting with the Board of Health on Jan. 10 or Jan. 11.
During the meeting, the board also unanimously agreed to name the week of Jan. 9 “First Responders Appreciation Week.”
The Ludlow Board of Selectmen’s next regular meeting is on Jan. 18 and coverage of that meeting will appear in the Jan. 27 edition of The Reminder.