Beverly Makes Masks Optional Again As Coronavirus Cases Drop

BEVERLY, MA — One of the final North Shore communities to reinstate a mask order for indoor public spaces amid the recent coronavirus surge will be the first to let it expire.

Just four weeks after voting 2-1 to reimpose the mask order, the Beverly Board of Health voted unanimously Monday night to allow it to expire at 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday night.

Board of Health member Sue Higgins — the lone Board member to vote against the mask order four weeks ago — made the motion to allow it to expire, with Chair William McAlpine and Board member Justin Jordan voting with Higgins this time.

"I feel we really need to look at where we're at," she said on Monday. "I think we need to learn to live with COVID, to accept it that it is endemic, similar to dealing with the seasonal flu. A lot has changed. We're now at a 75 percent vaccination rate in Beverly, which is an increase over where we were at the beginning of January. We have increased access to testing. We have treatment options. We are seeing the anticipated decrease in both the incident rates and the percent positivity.

"And, very importantly, beyond just the numbers and what those numbers mean, we are seeing a decline in COVID hospitalizations. With the new, more transparent reporting that we now have, we now know that half of those COVID hospitalizations are, in fact, incidental."

The state Department of Public Health reported 2,202 COVID-related hospitalizations statewide as of Monday — about a 30 percent drop from the peak earlier in January. The seven-day weighted positive test rate of 7.43 is down more than two-thirds from the high of 23.5 percent at the start of the new year.

The state said that 51 percent of COVID hospitalizations are "incidental" —or are people who test positive for COVID while in the hospital for another reason.

Higgins also cited new Centers for Disease Control guidance that many of the cloth masks that people still wear to comply with the order are not strongly effective in preventing omicron transmission and that current mandates are "haphazard" because the social distancing, time limits and capacity limits of previous restrictions are no longer in place.

She said it is more appropriate to make masks a recommendation along with other public health practices known to protect against contracting the virus.

"It's meaningless to me to have to wear a mask when you walk into a restaurant yet when you sit at a table with a group of people, perhaps shoulder-to-shoulder, right across from each other laughing, talking, for a very extended period of time, you don't have to have a mask on."

Jordan voted with Higgins, but said he felt his vote for the order four weeks ago was the right move for the Board at the time.

"The numbers are much more encouraging today than when we put the mandate in place," Jordan said. "We were in a very different time where our trash couldn't be picked up, where our hospitals had no beds available, where staff was no longer available in grocery stores and in the post office.

"Now we've passed that peak and we're on the downslide. I am in agreement with Sue that we should let the mandate expire as written. But I think we made a good choice at the time that we did for the situation we were in."

Beverly was one of the final communities on the North Shore to bring back the mask order in January after an attempt to discuss and vote on it in December was disrupted when nearly 400 people logged onto the virtual meeting with no means to mute participants who interrupted a Board discussion.

The Peabody Board of Health voted last week to extend that city's mask order for indoor public spaces for at least another few weeks. Danvers, Marblehead, Salem and Swampscott are among the other North Shore communities that brought back mask orders over the past six weeks.

Salem is the only North Shore community to impose a vaccination-proof order for entry into bars, restaurants, theaters, museums and other entertainment venues.

The Board did not take public comment during Monday's meeting but Health Director Bill Burke said he forwarded all submitted written comments to Board members.

Mayor Mike Cahill, who spoke in favor of a mask order early in the month, did not attend Monday's virtual meeting.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)