Board of Health votes tonight on town mandate
By MARK SARDELLA
WAKEFIELD —Health Director Anthony Chui tonight will recommend that the Board of Health lift the mask mandate for all public indoor spaces including town-owned buildings.
Last night, however, Chui urged the School Committee to keep its masking policy in place until March 21, as a “buffer” against a post-school vacation surge in cases. After a lengthy debate, the School Committee voted to end its school mask requirement effective Wednesday, March 9, so they could monitor any surge in cases following February School vacation. But committee members agreed that regardless of the data, the March 9 date was firm and would not change.
Public participation at last night’s School Committee meeting featured a parade of parents and students, some quite emotional, who pleaded with the committee to end the local school mask requirement in accordance with state public health recommendations and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), which have said that schools can lift mask requirements as of Feb. 28.
Alexandra Makarewicz of Eustis Avenue said that she plans to sent her kids to school without masks on Monday, Feb. 28. If they are not allowed in school, she said that she would keep a record of services that they are denied. She said it was time to put the masking decision back in the hands of parents and families.
“Enough is enough,” she said.
A Jessica Lane parent said that masks are not working and are harming kids. She asked to School Committee to defer to parental choice on masks.
“Children have suffered enough,” she said. “Children deserve for this to end.”
Gregory Spry of Turnbull Avenue insisted that masks do not stop COVID but do hurt children’s ability to read social cues.
“This is not a deadly virus for children but it has been lethal to their mental health,” he said. He cited the DESE decision that masks can come off on Feb. 28 and said that should be the date for Wakefield schools as well.
Christine Nelson of Oak Street noted that as of Feb. 28, kids will have been masked for 717 days. She implored the School Committee to give parents the choice when it comes to masking their children.
“These are my children,” she said. “Mine!”
Dawn Millward of Emerald Avenue said that she was speaking as a parent and a special education teacher.
“It’s time to remove masks for children who want to,” she said. “It’s time to see kids smile again.” She added that School Committee would be responsible for stifling children’s mental health if they continued the mask requirement.
A Turnbull Avenue mother held up a box of commercially sold surgical masks and read the caution on the side of the box: “This product is not intended to prevent any disease or illness.” She noted that school-age children have a COVID survival rate of 99.99 percent.
“Mental health and learning loss is a far greater risk,” she said, citing her own children’s struggles. “These kids deserve a return to normalcy. They need a return to normalcy.”
Shayna Reed of Lakeview Avenue blamed masks for some of the difficulty that her children are experiencing in school. “It’s time for parents to make the choice.”
Mary Young of Essex Street insisted that learning and the mental health of children have suffered as a result of the COVID restrictions. She said that she misses the smiles of children coming out of school.
“I want the learning to come back,” she said. “I want the smiles to come back.”
Chui joined the proceedings via Zoom part way into the meeting and shared his recommendation that the school mask mandate continue until March 21. He claimed that MelroseWakefield Hospital is at 80 percent capacity in its ICU units. He maintained that the March 21 date would provide a “buffer” against an expected spike in cases following February school vacation.
Asked why schools are different than other public buildings and businesses that will not have a mask requirement as of tomorrow, Chui cited the “denser” school environment and the need to protect teachers as well as students.
Florence Martin, a Woodville kindergarten teacher and vice president of the local teachers’ union, claimed that a survey of Wakefield teachers showed that most wanted to keep the mask rule in place after school vacation.
School Committee member Ami Wall made a motion that the School Committee rescind its mask policy effective Monday, Feb. 28, which was followed by more discussion.
Chairman Suzy Veilleux said that she was surprised to hear that some members of the community were afraid that the School Committee would just keep extending the mask requirement.
“I was not aware that feeling was out there,” she said.
Wall noted that over the course of the pandemic she had often heard the refrain that school officials must follow the guidance from DESE regarding masks. Why, she wondered, are we not listening when their guidance says masking can end on Feb. 28?
“At some point, it’s time to rip the Band-aid off,” she said.
School Committee member Stephen Ingalls cited his concern that a surge could send the schools back into remote learning, during which, he said, “There was zero learning.”
School Committee member Thomas Markham floated the idea of a week-long “buffer” after school vacation, requiring masks until about March 8.
Finally, a vote was taken on Wall’s motion to end the mask requirement oh Feb. 28. That motion failed by a vote of 5-2, with Wall and Amy Leeman the two votes in favor.
Markham then made a motion to continue the mask requirement until March 9, so that testing data after school vacation could be monitored.
After more discussion, the School Committee voted 4-3 in favor of Markham’s motion.
“This has got to be it,” Veilleux said after the vote. “We can’t change it again.”
Town Council defers
On Monday night, the Town Council deferred to the Board of Health on rescinding the mask mandate for town-owned buildings by making it conditional on tonight’s anticipated Board of Health vote on the town-wide indoor mask mandate.
Town Councilor Edward Dombroski said at Monday’s meeting that he had requested an agenda item to consider rescinding the council’s mask mandate for town buildings that went into effect last September. He noted that the town is in a very different place now with regard to COVID than it was last fall.
More than 90 percent of town employees are fully vaccinated, he observed, a rate that is unlikely to go higher.
“It’s becoming unnecessary from a public health standpoint to require everyone to wear a mask,” Dombroski said. He noted that the Town Council voted last year to mandate masks in town-owned buildings and now should vote to lift their own mandate. He acknowledged that the Board of Health would be voting this week on a broader mask mandate, which also covers businesses.
But other councilors were not comfortable rescinding their own mask mandate before the Board of Health makes its decision.
Town Councilor Ann Santos acknowledged that “People are done” with masks, and asked if Town Administrator Stephen P. Maio could lift the mandate for town-owned buildings on his own.
Maio said that since the Town Council enacted the mandate, he would want a vote of the Council to remove it.
Town Councilor Jonathan Chines said that he would not want to “get ahead” of the Board of Health and asked Maio if, after the mask mandate is lifted, unvaccinated town employees would still have to be masked in town buildings.
Maio said that would not be the case. Chines said that he wanted to get the Health Department’s take on that, since they are the experts.
Dombroski maintained that at this point councilors were well-attuned to the metrics used by the health professionals. He said that the Town Council had a responsibility to vote on whether or not to remove its own previous mandate.
“I don’t think our punting to the Board of Health is appropriate,” he said.
Town Councilor Ann Danehy insisted that the Town Council needed to “listen to the Board of Health” because they “have more data and insight.” She said that she would “feel more comfortable” with their input.
Town Counsel Thomas Mullen said that the Town Council could not allow people into Town Hall without masks as long as the Board of Health indoor mask mandate remained in effect. He said that action by both the Town Council and the Board of Health would be required.
Chines made a motion to terminate the mask mandate in town-owned buildings conditional on the Board of Health removing its town-wide indoor mask mandate.
But Town Councilor Mehreen Butt was adamantly opposed.
She noted that the Health Department has “three nurse practitioners and a PhD in public health. None of us are public health professionals.”
Butt advocated letting the Board of Health make its decision and then the Town Council could hold a special meeting to decide what to do about masks in town-owned buildings.
“We have always deferred to them,” Butt said. She insisted that it would be “insulting” to the Board of Health for the Town Council to take even a “conditional” vote before the Board of Health makes its decision.
Ultimately, the Town Council voted 5-1 to lift the mask mandate in town-owned buildings conditional on the Board of Health’s vote at their meeting tonight. Butt was the opposing vote.