After nearly two years of requiring face masks in public indoor spaces, the City of Somerville Board of Health has lifted these mandates.

By Fernando Cervantes Jr.

Since April 2020, the City Somerville has been requiring face masks at all indoor spaces in the city. Now, almost two years after the implementation of these, masks are finally off in Somerville. It now joins Boston and other cities and towns in the area that have lifted their indoor mask requirements.

In a meeting last Thursday for the Somerville Board of Health, members voted on rolling back mask mandates in the City of Somerville. The measure passed unanimously revoked the indoor face covering mandate beginning last Saturday.

During the meeting held online, Board members presented their arguments and reasoning as to why they believed masks should no longer be required in Somerville’s indoor spaces. They also discussed recent spikes in the city and addressed a large spike centralized at Tufts University.

“Among those were affiliated with Tufts University, especially around the dormitories,” Doug Kress, Director of Health and Human Services for the City of Somerville said. “I’ve had conversations with Tufts University, and they’ve implemented several things to make sure that they can look at this a little bit more.”

According to the City of Somerville’s COVID-19 dashboard, in the past 14 days there have been 23.2 cases per 100,000 in the city.

Paula Machado, a member of the Board of Health, expressed her approval to rolling back mask mandates in Somerville. “I’m ready to lift it all to be honest with you,” Machado said, “I think it’s time we kind of move on.”

Although the mandate was rolled back, Kress talked about how people can continue to wear masks if they wish to. “People will always have a choice of wearing a mask, if people choose to wear a mask, that is an acceptable and appropriate behavior. We don’t know what their background is, we don’t know what their symptoms are.” Kress said.

Following the vote from the Board of Health, the City of Somerville released a statement by Mayor Katjana Ballantyne reacting to the revoking of the mandate. “We will take this next step based on the data, the science, and the guidance, as we continue to help residents remain without protection to get vaccinated,” the statement read in part.

Jill Carter, manager at the Comicazi Comic Book Store in Davis Square gave their reaction to the decision from the Board of Health. “I’m not surprised that it happened, whether I think it’s too early or not, I am going to continue to wear my mask certainly at work,” Carter said. “I’ve been immunocompromised and in general for the safety of my coworkers.”

Looking towards the future, Carter believes only time will tell if the rolling back of restrictions was too early. “Only time will tell, whether it was too early or not. For the most part I feel comfortable in my shop anyway,” Carter said.