Baltimore's Mayor Scott To Discuss City Mask Mandate With Health Commissioner
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -– Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott will meet with the city's health commissioner, Letitia Dzirasa on Wednesday to discuss the city's mask mandate.
"I can bet you'll hear from me and Dr. D(zirasa) in the very near future about mask mandates and other things COVID-related," Scott said Tuesday morning.
Baltimore City's seven-day positivity rate is 2.04% and seven-day case rate per 100,000 people is 18.68, according to the Maryland Department of Health.
Those metrics would put Baltimore City in the "Moderate" community transmission designation by the Centers for Disease Control.
"I'm very proud our numbers are going down. It's like 'Yay!'" Sandi Giver said Tuesday on Charles Street downtown. "In (Baltimore County), they don't have the mandate. I still wear my mask. It's OK."
City health officials have pointed to the CDC's "high" transmission designation for the reason for the mask mandate. The city's health department says the CDC calculates the case rate differently from the city and state health departments.
"I think (lifting the mandate) is very foolish," Thomas O'Donnell said. "I think this thing may come around again. Continue with caution."
Montgomery County lifted its mask mandate Monday night. Prince George's County's mandate is set to expire on March 9.
"If numbers go up, then revise it," Giver said. "That's how science and things work. Please make a good, informed decision."