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Image from Google Maps. Town buildings, such as the public library, can still have their own mask policy after Board of Health declined to extend its January order requiring masks in all town buildings.
2-16-2022 9:13pm
Westwood Board of Health Allowing Mask Mandate to Expire in Town Buildings
Darlene Cancell
Editor
Updated 2/17/2022 at 12:54 p.m. Information has been added regarding the possibility of individualized mask policies being put into place in town buildings.
At its meeting on February 15, 2022, Westwood’s Board of Health has decided to allow the expiration of its current mandate that face coverings be worn in town buildings.
The board had issued an order on January 11, 2022 that required face coverings for any person entering any municipal building for any purpose, regardless of vaccination status, through the end of Sunday, February 27, 2022.
Dr. Roger Christian, chairperson of the Board of Health, and Ms. Carol Ahearn, board member and registered nurse, discussed the decision. The board’s third member, Ms. Shelley Reever, was not able to attend.
Dr. Christian spoke with Westwood Minute the day after BOH decided against extending its mask mandate. He noted that he and Ms. Ahearn did not feel strongly about continuing the masking requirement, in light of the fact that so many schools and towns are in the process of dropping their face covering mandates.
Although Westwood’s BOH will no longer impose a uniform policy requiring face coverings in town buildings, Dr. Christian notes that town buildings may have individual policies of their own. He gave the senior center and library as examples of town buildings that may have a continued policy of requiring face coverings, even after expiration of BOH’s order.
Thanks to Dr. Roger Christian for speaking with Westwood Minute.
