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Date: 8/10/2021
NORTHAMPTON – During a special meeting on Aug. 9, the Northampton Board of Health discussed and approved a new mask mandate requiring people to once again wear masks in indoor public spaces.
Under the new mandate, children under the age of 5, people with medical exemptions, and people eating or drinking in a restaurant are exempt from wearing masks in public indoor spaces. In private businesses, such as an office, masks are not required but recommended when social distancing is not possible.
Before the board discussed any public health policies, Northampton Public Health Nurse Vivian Franklin gave a presentation about COVID-19 in the community and discussed the delta variant, which she said counts for most cases in the country and state.
“What is notable about this variant is it is more transmissible than other variants, it has quickly surpassed our other variants and has become the predominant circulating variant and accounts for over 90 precent of cases in the country and 85 percent in the state,” she said.
With the delta variant on the rise, Franklin said the best defense is to get vaccinated to prevent more serious symptoms.
“Vaccination is going to be our best defense against another viral mutation and the spread of infection. We are seeing breakthrough infections with this variant, it can be transmitted by fully vaccinated individuals, but they may be contagious for a shorter amount of time and are less likely to be infected,” she said.
In terms of vaccination numbers, Franklin said at least 76 percent of the city’s total population has had at least one dose of the vaccine and 68 percent of the total population is fully vaccinated. Based on data as of July 8, 74 percent of middle school students and 79 percent of high school students in Northampton were vaccinated.
After Franklin’s presentation, Health Director Merridith O’Leary said a mask mandate was necessary in preventing the virus from further spread in the city.
“I really feel like at this point we need to add another layer back into our prevention strategies to help reduce the risk of spread of COVID-19. I feel like if we can get our vaccination rates even higher and we create a mask mandate for public indoor spaces, it will curb us from having to take drastic measures in the future,” she said.
Using the recent outbreak in Provincetown as a reference, board member Suzanne Smith said now was the time to put a mask mandate into effect before it was too late.
“In one long weekend, they had super spreading through town that resulted in over 1,000 cases. This is a different organism and essentially a new pandemic. Over 90 percent of Provincetown residents were immunized before that outbreak, but it did not stop it. I do not think we have the luxury of waiting to see if our numbers increase, that could happen over a weekend,” she said.
O’Leary agreed with Smith and said the data was quickly changing, particularly regarding the risk level in each county in Massachusetts.
“Last week there was only one county that was red, the rest were yellow or low to moderate risk. It seemed like every 24 hours there was a new red or high-risk county, so it is changing very fast. If we are going to do something we have to do it now because I fear in a couple days our level will also change,” she said.
The board unanimously approved the mask mandate to go into effect on Aug. 11, while also giving O’Leary the power to finalize the details of the mandate.
During the public comment portion of the meeting, Three County Fair President James Przypek said he was against any COVID-19 related mandates.
“The Three County Fair Organization is opposed to any COVID-related mandates or restrictions, including mask mandates indoors or outdoors. A mask mandate, even just indoors, would severely affect business at the Three County Fair; it needs to be put on without restrictions of any kind in order for it to be financially viable,” he said.
One resident, Ezekiel Baskin, said he was in favor of a mask mandate.
“We have a lot of people under 12, we have a lot of immuno-compromised people, we also do not know much about vaccine efficacy beyond six months yet without booster shots. I think an indoor mask mandate is a sensible, prudent course of action at this point,” he said.
The Northampton Board of Health’s next meeting is scheduled for Sept. 9 but the board may meet again in August if the COVID-19 situation in the city deteriorates.