Marblehead Townwide Mask Order Under Review Friday

MARBLEHEAD, MA — Marblehead may be soon joining the growing list of North Shore communities that rescinded mask orders for indoor public spaces after reimposing them amid the omicron COVID spike.

The Marblehead Board of Directors will meet on Friday afternoon with the lone agenda item being a review of the town's mask mandate.

The mask order was recently lifted in Beverly, Salem and Swampscott. The Danvers Board of Health will meet on Thursday with the likelihood it will rescind that town's order as well.

The Salem Board of Health on Tuesday night also voted unanimously to end its proof-of-vaccination requirement to enter bars, restaurants, gyms, theaters, museums and other entertainment venues just three weeks after the order went into effect.

The Peabody Board of Health will also meet Friday during which time Mayor Ted Bettencourt said on Wednesday "it is expected that the Board will vote to lift the mandate effective immediately following the vote."

On Wednesday, Gov. Charlie Baker said the state was lifting its indoor mask requirement for K-12 schools as of Feb. 28. Individual communities will have the choice of extending the mask mandate in schools or making them mask-optional.

Earlier this week, Marblehead Public Schools exercised its waiver to lift the school building mask order for students and staff inside Marblehead High, Marblehead Middle School and the Village School.

As of Tuesday the statewide positive test rate, which reached a high of 23.5 percent in early January, was down to 4.53 percent. Statewide hospitalizations have fallen from a January high of more than 3,200 to 1,253 as of Tuesday.

(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.)