Worcester Considers Bringing Back Indoor Mask Mandate With COVID Cases Rising
WORCESTER (CBS) – Lawmakers in Worcester said the city is now in the process of deciding if they'll make mask wearing indoors mandatory following the CDC's new COVID-19 data.
Worcester County is one of seven counties throughout the state where transmission rates of COVID-19 are now considered substantial. Two other counties, Barnstable and Nantucket, are considered high risk.
The CDC recommends residents in all nine counties wear masks indoors even if you're fully vaccinated and now city officials in Worcester said they may be making new changes.
"Wearing masks when you're outside in crowded areas it's important and the consideration if we do it inside also is on the table right now," Health and Human Services Commissioner Matilda Castile said.
Restaurant owners in the city said they're keeping a close eye on if lawmakers decide to make mask-wearing mandatory once again.
"We're not going to force anybody to. If someone's walking in and they don't have a mask, we're just kind of following what the state and the city are doing, just to make sure we're aligned with them and stay open," Via Italian Table host Noah Quiles said.
Worcester's Commissioner of Health and Human Services Matilda Castile said in addition to considering mandatory mask wearing, the city is still focusing on targeting the Black and Latino communities. Both groups have vaccination rates lower than 38%.
The city held a pop-up vaccine clinic at East Park Monday afternoon.
"I felt like there's enough people who did it, so I felt comfortable now, I just got the one shot," resident Charles Baker said.
"It may be Delta today, it may be something else in a month or so and it just gets progressively worse, and we will never stop this pandemic unless we all get vaccinated," Castile said.
Castile said a decision on making mask wearing indoors mandatory could be made as early as this week.