Salem COVID Vaccination Proof Order Dropped After 3 Weeks

SALEM, MA — One of the state's three municipal orders mandating proof of coronavirus vaccination to enter bars, restaurants, gyms, theaters, museums and other entertainment venues was dropped in Salem effective immediately Tuesday night.

The Salem Board of Health also voted to rescind its mask order for indoor public spaces, also effective immediately.

The vaccine order took effect just three weeks ago. The Board voted to impose the mask mandate and vaccination-proof orders on Dec. 22, but the vaccine order was not implemented until Jan. 15.

The Board of Health voted unanimously to drop both orders and cited a rapid reduction in coronavirus cases and reduced stress on local hospitals for the action one month ahead of when it originally planned to review the orders.

"This Board has always acted based on the metrics, based on the data," Salem Board of Health Chair Dr. Jeremy Schiller said. "We have been bold as far as enacting the mitigation measures at the beginning of the pandemic, at Halloween. But we've also been just as responsive about relaxing these measures when we say we are going to do it. Or, like tonight, in my mind, when we can do it."

Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll publicly supported the vaccination requirement, which quickly followed the one Mayor Michelle Wu imposed in Boston. While there might have been some initial expectation that other Greater Boston cities and towns would followed suit, that never happened — with Brookline the lone other town to enact a vaccine-proof entry mandate for certain businesses.

Driscoll said at a small business virtual meeting ahead of the vaccination order start date that the new requirement "isn't desired that it is going to be punitive" to businesses and that the hope was it would draw the additional business from those in surrounding cities and towns seeking to dine out and enjoy life in an all-vaccinated environment.

But Salem Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Rinus Oosthoek last week "strongly urged" the repeal of the vaccine order, arguing that "Salem has become even more of an island on the North Shore in terms of COVID measures."

"We will continue to respond to the data and never lose sight of our primary goal: Keeping Salem safe, open, and strong," Driscoll posted in response to Tuesday's end of the mandates.

Schiller said that while he appreciated the public's input on the orders, the decision to end them was based on improving virus metrics and not mounting public pressure.

"My feeling is we put these measures in place due to a crisis," Schiller said. "And this crisis has now abated. This does not mean that we're out of the pandemic. Hopefully, this pandemic will turn into more of an endemic virus, like other viruses have, and we're approaching spring in a much, much better shape."

A short period of public comment was allowed after the vote with some of those who spoke thanking Board members for their efforts over the past two years and their decision to rescind the orders, with others more harshly critical that the most recent orders were enacted at all.

"It's really important for people to understand," Board of Health member Sara Moore said, "that the pandemic is dynamic. COVID is dynamic. We have a set of tools in our toolboxes that include wearing high-quality masks, vaccinations, and vaccination mandates. So I think we absolutely made the right decision.

"The numbers speak clearly to that. But I do agree that there has been a drastic decrease so I feel comfortable with rescinding the mandates."

Salem residents in indoor public spaces are still encouraged to wear masks if that makes them feel more comfortable, while businesses retain the right to impose specific masking rules of entry for their properties if they so choose.

"We know what mitigation measures work," Schiller said. "People are going to have to take them upon themselves. And businesses as well."

(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.)