Swampscott Brings Back Mask Mandate In Municipal Buildings

SWAMPSCOTT, MA — Anyone entering Swampscott Town Hall, the police station, library and other municipal buildings will once again have to mask up regardless of vaccination status starting on Monday.

Swampscott is reinstituting its mask mandate in town buildings because of the recent rise in coronavirus cases and the spread of the delta variant.

"Unfortunately, after seven weeks of no new cases in the town of Swampscott, there have been 18 new lab-confirmed cases in the last two weeks alone," town officials said. "Masks continue to be an incredibly crucial part of continuing to mitigate the spread of the virus — particularly indoors."

Officials said the current infection rate is the town is the highest its been since April.

The mandate applies to employees and visitors to Town Hall, the Swampscott Public Library, Department of Public Works, the Swampscott Police Station and the Swampscott Fire Station.

Officials said the decision was made based on the rising cases and recent guidance that while breakthrough infection of the virus is low — less than 1 percent of all cases in the state — there is evidence from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that vaccinated people who do contract the virus can spread it to other vaccinated and unvaccinated people.

Swampscott has higher vaccination rates than the state average with 75 percent of residents fully vaccinated. Officials urge remaining residents who are eligible to be vaccinated to do so as soon as possible at the CVS, Stop & Shop, Walgreens on Paradise Road or the Lynn Community Center.

Officials also ask those who have been in close contact with someone who recently tested positive, or if you are experiencing coronavirus symptoms, to get tested through Project Beacon or the "Stop the Spread" testing sites in Salem.

Did you find this article useful? Invite a friend to subscribe to Patch.

(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.)