Brookline To Reconsider Town's Outdoor Mask Mandate

BROOKLINE, MA — Brookline garnered national attention this week when it became one of the few municipalities in the state to continue requiring people wear masks outdoors —despite the federal and state authorities saying it was no longer necessary.

Now, less than a week later, the Town's Advisory council on Public Health, made up of five individuals, including two doctors a nurse practitioner and other public health experts, is holding an emergency meeting to consider a revision to the town's mask mandate.

"At the meeting, the Council's public health professionals will discuss Brookline's current mask mandate and consider guidance by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as recent revisions to the state's order regarding face coverings," according to the town.

• Previously: Brookline Outdoor Mask Mandate Still In Place

On April 27, the Center For Disease Control and Prevention issued guidance for vaccinated and unvaccinated people. The CDC said outdoor walking, running or biking outside was safe unmasked for both vaccinated and unvaccinated people.

In April 2020, the town was among the first in the state to order masks be worn in public, weeks before Gov. Charlie Baker issued a similar order. He revised the order in November to include outdoor spaces. Friday, Baker lifted the outdoor mask mandate in Massachusetts, citing improving public health metrics in Massachusetts and the low risk of contracting the virus outside when not in crowds.

Baker made his announcement at the same time President Joe Biden made one of his own that included relaxing federal mask-wearing guidelines.

Just a week earlier a prominent local infections diseases doctor said it was not necessary to continue to mask up outdoors.

"Transmissions do not take place between solitary individuals going for a walk, transiently passing each other on the street, a hiking trail, or a jogging track. That biker who whizzes by without a mask poses no danger to us, at least from a respiratory virus perspective," Dr. Paul Sax, clinical director of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Brigham and Women's Hospital, wrote in a blog post for the New England Journal of Medicine April. 19.

The meeting will be held at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday on Zoom. Although there is no comment during emergency meetings, the council is accepting written comments before 1 p.m. Wednesday.

Submit questions or comments at this link.

Register in advance for this webinar: https://brooklinema.zoomgov.co...