At least 20 Vermont communities have repealed their local mask mandates or allowed them to expire in recent weeks, according to a VTDigger review of mask mandates.
Only a handful of communities — including Waitsfield, Williston and Winooski — still have mask mandates in effect, although they may not be in effect for much longer. Waitsfield, for example, plans to discuss the matter at its Selectboard meeting March 14.
The state law that allowed municipalities to set their own mask mandates also expires at the end of April, meaning that municipal officials may not be able to set mask mandates even if they want to.
Gov. Phil Scott coordinated with lawmakers to pass a bill in November that enabled local communities to set mask mandates after Scott blocked Brattleboro’s attempt to adopt a mandate on its own. At the time, the state was experiencing a surge in Covid cases from the Delta variant and Scott issued a statewide mask recommendation, rather than a mandate, for indoor public spaces.
But now, with Covid cases and hospitalizations declining, the state announced it would end its mask recommendation on March 14.
Brattleboro repealed its local mask mandate this week. Some communities, such as Burlington, have not specifically repealed their mask mandate but instead allowed it to expire, since the law required it to be renewed each month.
At a Montpelier City Council meeting on March 9, one council member brought up the option of allowing the existing mandate to expire on March 11. But the council opted to repeal the mandate effective immediately, citing support from the business community for ending the rule as soon as possible.
Councilor Conor Casey said the state “shirked its responsibility” in November by not passing a statewide mask order, so Montpelier was forced to step up.
But he believes it’s best now to listen to the community and acknowledge that retail workers in the city are spending too much time enforcing the order. He said repealing it now would foster trust in the public.
“I’m voting to end it, not because I don’t believe in mask mandates, but because I do,” he said.
One councilor, Lauren Hierl, said she’d like to keep mandates “in the toolbox” to use again if Covid cases rise, although state law would not permit Montpelier to do so.
“We’ve been trying to follow the science,” including information from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “as best we can,” Hierl said, and the CDC currently places Montpelier in the “medium” risk category that does not require masking.
As of Thursday, the CDC reported that Rutland and Bennington counties were in the “high” risk category for Covid-19, and the rest of the state was “low” to “medium” risk.
Tiffany Tan contributed to this story.