Masks Required in Rockville City Buildings Again

ROCKVILLE, MD — Anyone going into City of Rockville buildings will once again be required to wear masks, regardless of vaccination status.

City Manager Rob DiSpirito said it's being put in place as a precautionary measure, intended to protect people who haven't been able to be vaccinated yet.

“Despite the high rate of vaccination in Montgomery County, there are still many adults and adolescents who have not been vaccinated,” the county states. “In addition, children under the age of 12 are too young to be vaccinated. This can create a risk for a new rise in infections, particularly with the new variants, including the Delta variant.”

The city of Gaithersburg reinstated its own mandate on Aug. 2.

"The safety of our staff, residents and visitors is our paramount concern," said Gaithersburg City Manager Tanisha Briley. "Masking has proven very effective in reducing the spread of COVID-19. We encourage everyone to get vaccinated, and we will continue to do our part to reduce transmission by requiring indoor masking and physical distancing until such time as it is safe to remove these restrictions."

The CDC recommended last week that people in areas of substantial or high transmission return to mask wearing. Substantial transmission is defined as 50 to 99 cases per 100,000 residents for seven days. Montgomery County reported 90 new cases on Aug. 1, 66 on Aug. 2 and 41 on Aug. 3.

County Executive Marc Elrich proposed that the county mandate mask wearing regardless of vaccination status if the county reaches substantial transmission.

"We have seen the daily number of new cases go up for more than two weeks and the majority of the new cases are the Delta variant, which is highly contagious," said Elrich in a statement. "While we have a high rate of vaccination in the community, health officials have determined that this variant is very easy to spread and we want to be sure that those in the community who aren't eligible to be vaccinated, such as children under the age of 12, are protected. No one wants to go back to wearing masks but in the absence of a 100 percent vaccination rate in the community, masking is one of the best ways to prevent the spread of the virus and protect the health of our community."

The County Council will meet Thursday, Aug. 5 for a public hearing and vote on the proposal.