'We Are Not Out Of The Woods Yet': Melrose Drops Mask Mandate As Cases Dip

MELROSE, MA — The city's indoor mask mandate is over after the Board of Health voted Tuesday night to rescind it, effective immediately.

Business owners still have the right to enforce a mask rule if they choose.

The decision does not effect the school mask mandate, though there are indications the state could let that expire at the end of the month. The city's mask mandate for municipal buildings is still in place.

Health Director Anthony Chui said the mask mandate was the right call at the time.

"We saw the surge coming, we put [the mandate] into place and now the surge is decreasing," Chui said. "So the number of infections that were potentially averted is very real. I think it's very real that measure has helped prevent a lot of cases."

Cases are still very high — Melrose saw 473 cases and a 12.08 percent positivity rate in the most recent two-week data — but the prevalence of vaccines has framed the fight against the pandemic differently than even this time last year.

When the indoor mask mandate was put into effect Jan. 2, the percent positivity rate was at 19.5 percent.

Chui said other metrics must also be considered, noting there are very few ICU beds at nearby hospitals, like MelroseWakefield, Winchester, Lahey and Mass. General.

"We are not out of the woods yet," he said. "And we will keep an eye on the data to make sure that we continue to make evidence-based decisions."

Worcester on Monday became the latest Massachusetts city to drop its indoor mask mandate, following communities near, like Malden, and far, like Mansfield. Some communities never even brought a mask mandate back this winter, and others did so with a much more narrow scope.

Wakefield, which shares a health director with Melrose, is set to revisit its indoor mask mandate March 16.

In general it would appear the attitude toward mandatory masking is shifting across the country, even in heavily Democratic areas. Governors in Connecticut, New Jersey and Delaware just either established timelines on when indoor mask mandates will or should end in schools and/or indoors in their states.

Mike Carraggi can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @PatchCarraggi and Instagram at Melrose Happening. Subscribe to Melrose Patch for free local news and alerts and like us on Facebook