Framingham Keeping Mask Mandate, But Talks About Duration Ongoing

FRAMINGHAM, MA — Worcester and Marlborough have either rescinded or begun to remove recent mask mandates, but Framingham's will remain in place with coronavirus cases still relatively high across the city, according to officials.

In a weekly update Wednesday, Mayor Charlie Sisitsky said he is in talks with city health officials and Framingham Public Schools about the recent mask order, which went into effect only on Jan. 19.

"We continuously review COVID-related data that is specific to our community, as well as data from outside our community. These conversations will continue, resulting in a draft timeline, to be announced later this month," Sisitsky said in a news release.

To rescind the moratorium, the Board of Health would have to take action, which could come during an emergency meeting.

Framingham stopped releasing city-specific case numbers as of Feb. 2, largely due to the high number of at-home kits that don't count toward official case totals. Framingham only gets notified about positive results from PCR nasal swab tests.

RELATED: MA's School Mask Mandate Will Expire Feb. 28

According to state data, Framingham was adding about 124 cases per 100,000 people over the week ending Feb. 3, which is the latest date available. That's down from the 467 cases per 100,000 on the day Framingham's mask mandate went into effect in January.

But the Feb. 3 case data is much higher than at the same time one year ago.

On Feb. 12, 2021, the state removed Framingham from its "high risk" list of communities for virus spread when the case rate reached 32 cases per 100,000 people over a one-week period. At the peak last winter, Framingham hit about 68 cases per 100,000, about half the rate seen on Feb. 3.

On the vaccine front, about 79 percent of Framingham residents have received two vaccine shots as of Feb. 10 — although the percentage of fully vaccinated might be higher since not ever resident is eligible to receive a vaccine.