Concord Creates Committee To Consider New COVID-19 Mask Mandate

CONCORD, NH — Despite a few communities in New Hampshire returning to COVID-19 mask and face-covering mandates, the Concord City Council has formed a committee to study the issue and reconsider a proposal to implement a new mandate.

The city’s mask mandate was issued in August 2020, after a small increase of cases that, months later, led to the first surge. It was rescinded later as cases fell. But since infections have increased, some businesses and community members want the city to reimplement the mandate.

The issue was raised by Ward 10 City Councilor Zandra Rice Hawkins who was responding to a memo by City Manager Tom Aspell about some of the issues facing the Concord Fire Department and Concord Hospital. The hospital, which has facilities in Concord, Franklin, and Laconia, opened up its incident command center last week to “manage the extraordinary patient volume,” not just due to coronavirus but other medical care issues, too, according to Pamela Puleo, the hospital’s chief advancement officer.

Rice Hawkins, concerned about both public health and property taxpayers due to an increase in firefighter calls, thought it was time to reinstitute the mandate.

“Universal masking is a policy that works,” she said. “Simple, it’s effective, people have experience with it, (and) we have an existing ordinance that we’ve enacted in the past.”

Rice Hawkins, who deferred to Byron Champlin, an at-large city councilor, said there was public health transmission data that should be used to show support for the mandate.

Champlin, who seemed surprised by Rice Hawkins’ reference, said he did not want any new mandate tied to “a date certain.” Instead, if a mandate were to be reconsidered, rescinding it should be tied to transmission data for the county as tracked by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the state guidelines, whenever it reaches a minimal transmission level or something of that nature, he said.

The CDC, as of Monday, says low transmission, by county, would be considered to be 0 to 9.99 new cases each week per 100,000 residents. About 150,000 people live in Merrimack County. So any more than 15 cases in the county per week would be considered above the minimum transmission rate. During nearly the entire pandemic, with the exception of the summer months, Merrimack County had seen weekly new cases above the minimum range — meaning any face-covering mandate which included this criterion to be rescinded would practically be permanent.

“One of the things we’ve learned from this pandemic is what we don’t know where we’re going to be, say, in June,” Champlin said. “Or in May.”

Outgoing Ward 5 Councilor Rob Werner asked about current mask mandates and Rice Hawkins said there were “similar conversations” occurring in the state.

Mayor Jim Bouley said Keene was considering a new one; the city held a public hearing last week. The only other cities he knew with new ones were Berlin and Lebanon. Nashua rescinded its mask mandate in May but reimplemented it for city hall in August. Concord also requires masks in city buildings.

Ward 2 City Councilor Erle Pierce asked about Rice Hawkins’ mention of reimplementing the mask mandates on restaurants and eateries, something that was not included in 2020 due to statewide emergency orders. She said she thought it was the best thing to do.

“I always go back and forth on restaurants because I think, I don’t have to go to a restaurant,” Rice Hawkins said. “But for somebody who’s in the hospitality industry, it’s not really a choice for them whether or not they go to work. That’s what pays their bills … if we are going to follow the public health guidance, let’s follow it in all of the business establishments in our community.”

Pierce asked Rice Hawkins about potential change and she said two words removed from the previous ordinance, so that food establishments could be included, would suffice. She said some industry-specific guidelines might be missed but it was urgent due to the potential spike in new cases based on the holiday activities. Rice Hawkins requested councilors enact the previous ordinance and then, return to discuss the issue again in January.

At-Large City Councilor Fred Keach said he understood the intention but enforcement the last time was “challenging.” Requesting customers to wear a mask should be something the business owner should require or not, he said. Customers, too, do not have to shop at businesses that do not require masks, Keach added.

“I really feel it’s an individual choice,” he said. “Again, I appreciate your intentions. But I just think it’s a little heavy-handed to impose that requirement.”

Outgoing Ward 6 City Councilor Linda Kenison also “strongly” supported reinstituting the mandate. She said, despite the public’s perception they were safe due to shots, even people getting shots and boosters can still be infected and even die.

“This came home to me in a way I wish it hadn’t,” she said, due to an indirect family member dying from COVID-19 even though he had his shots and the booster, too. “He didn’t think he needed to wear a mask because he felt he was protected. Well, we’re not.”

Ward 4 Councilor Karen McNamara agreed and said enforcement issues were not a reason to stop reimplementation. Even if residents voluntarily began wearing masks, “that could be helpful.”

Werner agreed, saying it was a message being sent to the community from the council.

Amanda Grady Sexton, another at-large city councilor, said enforcement was a major issue previously though — and put the burden on businesses and their staffs, something that was not fair to them or something that they wanted.

“I think it is something we seriously need to consider,” she said.

Ward 1 Councilor Brent Todd said constituents had told him, “overwhelmingly,” to bring the ordinance back. It seems, he added, more popular than the first one.

Rice Hawkins, while addressing Keach’s concerns, said it was important to keep in mind that “the property rights of individual business owners also shouldn’t trump anti-discrimination laws.” So, she added, “while you’re saying that you think it should be up to them to make that decision, this is really a decision that should be guided by public health and science … it's about community transmission; one decision affects everyone right now.” Rice Hawkins said she did not go to a lot of establishments due to having a young child who can’t get vaccinated even though she and another child had received shots.

“We have a young child who’s at risk,” she said, “and there’s a lot of families out there who need to go to the grocery store and need to stop at other businesses and they need to have the protection to be able to go to those places, especially essential places, without having to worry about this.”

Rice Hawkins called a new mandate “the pro-business position.”

After Pierce asked about the process, Bouley said the previous ordinance could be used and then, a public hearing would be held in January.

At-Large City Councilor Nathan Fennessey said shoppers, it appeared, had already begun wearing masks again recently, due to the surge in cases. He said both vaccinated and unvaccinated people appeared to be putting on masks and there was comfort with the general populace, between 85 or 95 percent, without a mandate, he guessed.

“It is important to hear some different perspectives from people,” he said, adding that he had not received a lot of feedback from residents or business owners about the issue.

Fennessey said, around the community, businesses have already set their policies, with signage and staff. He added any new ordinance needed to address restaurants, enforcement, and also what worked best for everyone in the community.

Keach agreed, saying he normally does not wear a mask but would out of respect to the businesses that required them. He also saw value in wearing them. However, “I just don’t think businesses should be told what or what not to do. That’s my only issue.”

Champlin said Kenison’s comments were “a teachable moment,” adding he was speaking with colleagues who had difficulties with the virus despite having all of their shots.

“The fact that someone is vaccinated should not make them feel invulnerable,” he said. “Because we are all very, very vulnerable to the virus.”

Ward 9 Councilor Candance Bouchard said she always wore a mask and avoided businesses without mask requirements or where she saw staffers not wearing masks. At the same time, she said it sent “mixed messages” to residents to encourage them to get shots and boosters, they will get sick anyway, and then require masks, too, “I don’t know which one is more important … we can all model best behavior … and do more public outreach” on the importance of wearing a mask. Bouchard said the mandate would probably not make much of a difference with “the deniers.”

Ward 7 Councilor Keith Nyhan agreed with a lot of the points and said the city should explore vaccination clinics, vans, or other important actions to ensure people get shots.

Rice Hawkins said when the first mask mandate was issued, there was an average caseload of 20 per week in the state. Today, she said, it is more than 1,000 cases.

Fennessey said he was concerned if the council focused too much on masks and not enough on shots — especially when mentioning breakthrough cases as both Champlin and Kenison had. The virus, he noted, was spreading in the schools because children were not getting the shots.

Both Grady Sexton and Pierce again raised the enforcement issue saying councilors fielded a number of calls about it last time.

Bouley also went through a litany of recommendations by health officials, three pages of them — including washing hands, disinfection, and other strategies to contain the virus.

Rice Hawkins proposal was rejected by voice vote and then, a roll call was requested. Another vote was taken and it was defeated 6-8.

A second proposal was offered by Fennessey to create a committee to study the issue while working with Jim Kennedy, the city’s legal counsel, for a public hearing in January, was approved unanimously.

Bouley said he would accept emailed requests for involvement in the study committee.

The actual data and science of coronavirus in New Hampshire when it comes to children was not mentioned by councilors during the meeting despite it being raised. While thousands under 19 have been infected, none have died and only 49 in the nearly 22 months since the pandemic started have been hospitalized, as of Monday — meaning, while there was a danger, it was quite limited to children, shots, or not. Most grocery stores in the city also have mask requirements or are strongly encouraging their customers to wear masks.

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