Salem Approves School Mask Requirement, Proposes Citywide Indoor Mandate
SALEM (CBS) - All students and teachers in kindergarten through 12th grade in Salem Public Schools will be required to wear a mask in class this fall, regardless of vaccination status. The school committee voted to approve the mandatory mask requirement in a virtual meeting on Monday afternoon.
"We want to keep kids in school," Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll told WBZ. "We don't want to go on a roller coaster ride of virtual this week, contact tracing, you've got to quarantine. That's really disruptive to learning. It's disruptive to staff."
The city of Salem could take the school mask mandate a step further on Tuesday night, when the Board of Health meets to vote on a proposal that would require mask wearing for all people in any indoor public spaces or businesses, regardless of vaccination status.
"We are going to see an influx of tourists here who come from all throughout the globe and certainly a number of under vaccinated states and that is a concern when you have so many people in close quarters," Mayor Driscoll told WBZ. She says the proposal was in part inspired by an outbreak of the COVID-19 Delta variant among vaccinated people in Provincetown.
Tourists in the city on Monday seemed to be OK with the proposal. "I wear pants, I wear a shirt, I can wear a mask," one woman said. "I'm sick of COVID too but it's there. I would love for it to go away but it's here and we have to deal with it."
The city of Salem is also proposing a vaccine mandates for all city employees. Those who are not vaccinated would be subject to a COVID-19 test twice a week. This proposal will also have to be approved by the Board of Health at a meeting on Tuesday.
