BURLINGTON — Armed with the authority to mandate masks within its borders, city leaders plan to meet Dec. 1 and vote on an ordinance that would require indoor masking for unvaccinated people.
Mayor Miro Weinberger released a proposed mask mandate Tuesday afternoon that would offer exemptions in a number of situations.
Masks would not be required inside businesses that can prove all employees and customers are either vaccinated or get tested for Covid-19 regularly, according to a press release from Weinberger’s office. The mayor did not specify how regularly the customers or employees would have to be tested.
Places of worship would be exempt from mandating masks. Schools would be too since they follow guidance from the state Agency of Education.
The city would reevaluate the mandate every 30 days, Weinberger said, and could drop it within the 30-day window if the transmission level in Chittenden County falls to “moderate,” under guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention The CDC defines “moderate” transmission as between 10-50 new cases per 100,000 people over a seven-day period.
When asked by VTDigger last week, five city councilors expressed support for an indoor mask mandate — though not necessarily the one proposed by Weinberger — while three more expressed an openness to one. Four did not respond to requests for comment.
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Weinberger first announced his support for a partial mask mandate at a Tuesday afternoon press conference. At the event, the mayor concurred with Gov. Phil Scott’s decision not to declare a state of emergency in response to heightened Covid-19 metrics.
“I think we are both not in an emergency, and we are at a place where we’re still challenged by Covid,” Weinberger said, acknowledging that hospitals across the state are facing capacity shortages.
While Weinberger said he presented his mask mandate proposal to Health Commissioner Mark Levine, the face of Vermont’s Covid-19 response, the mayor said Levine did not explicitly endorse the idea.
“He thought it was interesting and didn’t have a reaction beyond that, but he understood why we might be considering it,” Weinberger said.
Also at the press conference, Weinberger announced the return of a warming shelter to the city’s Veterans of Foreign Wars post on South Winooski Avenue. The shelter, which officials have labeled a “community resource center,” is a collaboration between the city and local nonprofits to provide food and resources to those who need it in the colder months.
The City Council is slated to convene Dec. 1 — when they had already planned to meet and discuss the city’s upcoming special election — and vote on the mask mandate proposal.
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