They’re back at City Hall
By MARK SARDELLA
MELROSE — Parents, stock up on masks.
It’s not official until the School Committee votes, but last week the Wakefield and Melrose Boards of Health, meeting in joint session, voted to recommend that everyone – students, faculty and staff — mask up when school reopens in September.
The Melrose and Wakefield school committees are expected to hear about masking in schools at their respective Aug. 24 meetings. The schools have been waiting for guidance from local health officials.
The recommendation came as COVID cases rise, but there have been no hospitalizations and no deaths, according to Elaine Silva, Health Director for both communities. Silva said that most were “breakthrough cases,” where vaccinated people tested positive but experienced no symptoms or very mild cold-like symptoms.
Silva said that new cases have been showing up at a rate of between one and six a day.
Silva reported that Melrose Mayor Paul Brodeur has ordered that masks must be worn in all municipal buildings in the city beginning Monday, Aug. 16.
Wakefield Town Administrator Stephen P. Maio said that he was not ready to mandate masks in public buildings. He said that since July 1, Wakefield has recorded 55 new cases, or roughly one per day. “Nothing to be overly alarmed at,” he said.
He reviewed the precautions that Wakefield Town Hall has taken since COVID began, including plexiglass barriers and a greeter to check visitors in. Most town employees are vaccinated, he said.
Maio said that if people feel more comfortable masking, they are welcome to do so, but for now the policy will remain that vaccinated people don’t have to wear masks in Town Hall.
Wakefield Emergency Management Director Tom Walsh agreed with Maio. No COVID cases have been traced to public buildings or town employees, he said. So, there is no reason to mandate masks in municipal buildings.
Board of Health member Laurel Gourville, a registered nurse, disagreed. She advocated a mask mandate.
“It’s not a big ask,” Gourville insisted. “I know we’re all tired of this. I’d rather overshoot than undershoot. Vax or mask didn’t really work.” She called the trends being seen around the world “pretty frightening.”
Melrose Board of Health member Dr. Frank Brinchiero said that he favored the CDC guidelines, which call for masking indoors in areas where cases are rising, which would include Middlesex County.
Melrose Health Board members Carol Ann Licitra, a licensed mental health counselor, and Maurine Garipay, a registered nurse, both felt that the mask issue needed further discussion.
Wakefield School Superintendent Doug Lyons joined the Zoom meeting and said that he was hoping for some concrete guidance from the Board of Health regarding masks for the start of the school year.
“Parents want to know,” he said.
He noted that the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has recommended that all students be masked in school.
“Your expertise is important for us to hear,” he told the health officials.
Walsh said that in schools, where most kids are not vaccinated and tend to gather in clusters, he would favor recommending masks. Maio also agreed that kids should be masked while in school.
Melrose resident Ryan Bagwell joined the meeting to voice his opposition to mandating masks in schools.
He said that he was frustrated by the “blind faith” in masks, which he felt were not very effective.
“Vaccines work,” he said. “I don’t understand the enthusiasm for masking people who are vaccinated.”
He pointed out that COVID cases continued to rise last winter, even when masks were mandated. He also noted that young children are not especially vulnerable to COVID.
If the boards decided to recommend masks, he implored them to identify a date when masking can end.
“There has to be a threshold when we can take them off,” he said.
Wakefield Board of Health Chair Candace Linehan, a nurse practitioner, said that she understood the frustration of families, adding that it might be tough to get older kids, who are vaccinated, to submit to wearing masks in school.
Ultimately, each board voted separately for very similar recommendations that all students, school personnel and visitors wear masks when inside school buildings, regardless of vaccination status. The votes were unanimous.
