'Split' Burlington Health Board Endorses Masks, Not Mandate

BURLINGTON, MA — Burlington will remain without a mask mandate after the Board of Health again declined to institute such a requirement, instead opting to emphasize its mask advisory amid concerns of the effectiveness and enforcement of mandates.

For the second straight month, no Board of Health members brought a vote on mandates to the body.

"I think we need at least to talk between ourselves and see where we can go because clearly our board is split," Chair Dr. Ed Weiner said at the end of Tuesday night's meeting. "Totally split."

The board, which was missing one of its five members, unanimously voted to continue its mask advisory and meet with town officials to discuss educating and informing residents.

Board member David McSweeney suggested discussing a possible industry-specific mandate rather than a blanket one.

"It's maybe not yes or no, but maybe there's a middle ground," he said.

Weiner stressed the board must eventually take action one way or another.

"I want to discuss this more because I think we need to, at some point, make a decision," he said.

There was plenty of discussion Tuesday, when members spoke about what they thought to be pros and cons of any potential mandate. While everyone was in favor of masking — despite most of those in attendance at a mid-December Board meeting not wearing masks — there wasn't much appetite to require them.

"I would definitely not view the Burlington position as a mask-optional one," Board member Dr. Wayne Saltsman said. "There is an advisory, people should be wearing a mask."

One of the concerns mentioned repeatedly was that a mask mandate was unenforceable. Weiner said he heard from other town departments — including the police — that they would not enforce a mask mandate.

"How does Lexington and Billerica manage their mask mandates?" asked McSweeney. "They don't manage it at all. They put it in place, and it's not managed. And I don't think that helps anybody."

Residents weighed in on both side in a largely respectful manner, something not every Massachusetts community has been able to say.

Burlington — and the rest of the country — has seen an explosion of COVID-19 cases fueled by the highly contagious omicron variant. According to last week's public health data, the town reported 571 cases in the previous two weeks — 15 percent of Burlington's total since the start of the pandemic. The positive test rate has surpassed 15 percent.

The Board of Health met in mid-December and, after some discussion, the vote was not brought before the members. At least six people present did not wear masks during the meeting.

Some towns have taken varying approaches to mask mandates. While many have instituted total indoor mandates, others have taken a more focused approach. Stoneham for instance recently approved a mask mandate for grocery stores and pharmacies only.

Mike Carraggi can be reached at mike.carraggi@patch.com. Follow him on Twitter @PatchCarraggi. Subscribe to Burlington Patch for free local news and alerts and like us on Facebook