Beverly Indoor Mask Order Takes Effect Thursday

BEVERLY, MA — It was far more orderly — but also far from a consensus —when the Beverly Board of Health met to reconsider a renewed mask order for all indoor public spaces Wednesday night.

A week after the first attempt to debate the order devolved into a chorus of interruption that eventually forced the Board of Health members to abandon the meeting when there was no mechanism to mute unscheduled speakers in the virtual session, the Board approved the mask order in a split vote.

The mandate, which Mayor Mike Cahill spoke in favor of during Wednesday night's meeting, was approved with an amendment that it be re-evaluated in four weeks. The order was set to take effect at 12:01 on Thursday morning.

Board of Health Chair Bill McAlpine and Board of Health member Justin Jordan voted for the order, while Board of Health member Sue Higgins voted against it.

Her motion that the order be changed to a "strong public health advisory" with a mask and vaccination recomendation was voted down in the same 2-1 vote.

Beverly joints Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem, Swampscott and other North Shore communities that have brought back mask mandates in recent weeks. But, unlike most of those Board of Health votes, this one was not unanimous.

"I feel that we are going too far with this," Higgins said. "Looking at the numbers, we saw the same spike last year. It spiked at this time last year in the period of Jan. 4 through Jan. 16. I think we are at the peak. I think we're going to start to see it coming down.

"I am in favor of vaccinations. I am in favor of masking. I am in favor of all the steps. I am just not in favor of mandating it."

There was a statewide mask order in effect in January 2021 when the commonwealth was still under the state of emergency. Gov. Charlie Baker has said he has "no interest" in bringing back a statewide order, but that communities are welcomed to add local mandates as they see fit.

Jordan said he introduced the four-week re-evaluation because he agreed with many of the points Higgins and others who wrote and spoke opposed to the mandate voiced, but he voted in favor of what he allowed was an "extreme measure" because of the current infection rates and the effect those are having on businesses and civic services.

"We still have a very high transmission that's impacting us," he said. "And my sense is our job is to protect the vulnerable and to protect those individuals who are not vaccinated through either age, because young people are still not able to, or have medical problems or an illness that keeps them from getting vaccinated.

"Masks are a minor inconvenience. But to do that contributes to the greater good for those vulnerable people."

Jordan noted that while the city as a whole has a vaccination rate of higher than 74 percent, the numbers for those under 30 "are pretty miserable" and that age group largely makes up the front-line service workers in restaurants and grocery stores.

Cahill also advocated for some type of a time limit to be associated with the order when he spoke in favor of it.

"We are approaching two full years since the shutdown in March of 2020," he said. "From day one, it became very clear to me that nothing we can do in response is perfect. Everything we do is imperfect. We try to do our very best to sort through and make decisions that are going to try to move the needle in the right direction."

Cahill said the city was prepared to assist any business that wishes with signs and surgical masks it can pass out to customers. He also said individual businesses must have their employees wear masks indoors, but that the city would help with education and enforcement — when necessary —through the police and health department.

The order is virtually identical to neighboring communities as it applies to all indoor businesses and indoor public spaces for those 2 years old and older. Those visiting restaurants and bars must wear their masks unless they are eating or drinking. They must be worn at all times in gyms and fitness centers.

Public comment was allowed at this meeting for a 30-minute time period where it was split exactly down the middle of those who supported and opposed the measure.

(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.)

More Patch Coverage: Beverly Health Board Pulls Vaccine Order, Abandons Mask Meeting