Wayland May Take Action On Masks As Coronavirus Surges

WAYLAND, MA — The Wayland Board of Health will meet Monday to discuss taking action to either mandate or advise wearing masks in public amid a flood of coronavirus cases linked to the omicron variant.

Gov. Charlie Baker has said he won't enforce a statewide mask mandate — although the state Department of Public Health issued a mask advisory on Dec. 21 — leaving action up to local governments. Sudbury renewed its mask mandate in August for all public spaces, and Milford issued a mask advisory before Christmas.

Wayland has a mask mandate for municipal buildings, but that order does not extend to private businesses like restaurants and grocery stores.

Massachusetts broke a pandemic record on Wednesday, adding 15,163 new cases in a single day. The previous single-day record was set on Friday when the state recorded 5,123 cases.

The Wayland Board of Health meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. on Monday.