End Of Framingham Mask Mandate Likely Imminent

FRAMINGHAM, MA — Mayor Charlie Sisitsky has asked the Board of Health to convene a special meeting in the coming days, a sign that the city's mask mandate may be coming to an end.

Framingham's most recent mask mandate went into effect on Jan. 19 near the peak of the omicron wave in Massachusetts. Framingham is one of the few large communities left in the region with a mask mandate — Marlborough's ended last week, and Worcester's Board of Health is expected to vote Wednesday to end that city's mandate by Friday.

Sisitsky said discussions about keeping the local mandate have been ongoing in recent weeks with Health Director Alex DePalo and Superintendent Robert Tremblay.

"Included in those conversations has been such factors as the changing mandates and guidelines emanating from Gov. Charlie Baker and his Department of Elementary and Secondary Education; the difficulty tracking cases given the many thousands of unreported rapid antigen tests; input from residents, businesses and teachers; and the spikes in COVID-19 cases that have historically occurred after school vacation breaks," Framingham said in a Wednesday news release.

Coronavirus cases have been dropping steadily in the region since a mid-January peak. Framingham no longer releases its own cases numbers due to the high number of at-home tests in circulation.

According to state data, Framingham was adding 66.5 new cases per 100,000 people per day over the two weeks ending Feb. 10. In the two weeks ending Feb. 3, that rate was around 124 new cases per day.

The Framingham Board of Health will likely post a special meeting notice on Thursday, which could mean a meeting will take place as early as Monday to discuss the mandate.

The state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education is letting its blanket mask mandate expire on Feb. 28. That means Framingham Public Schools could choose on its own to change the mask policy, although the district has not made any firm decisions yet.