Boston's Indoor Mask Mandate Takes Effect Friday Morning
BOSTON (CBS) - Early Thursday evening, dozens packed a Back Bay spin studio, unmasked. It's the last time they'll be able to do an indoor group fitness class sans mask for the foreseeable future, as Boston's new indoor mask mandate takes effect Friday morning at 8.
"We are here today because then tomorrow we have to start wearing masks," rider Emily Wyman told WBZ. "We will still come but it's not as much fun."
"We are double vaccinated and we've been being really careful so I just feel like I don't know; it stinks," Sophie Wyman added. "It's not ideal and it's harder to do with a mask but we can't go back to working out in our living room anymore."
The mask mandate applies to all public indoor spaces in Boston, with the exception of places of worship, private offices or buildings closed to the public, or for performers who stay six feet away from the audience.
That last exception will apply on Friday and Saturday, when the Eagles come to the TD Garden to play to a fully masked crowd -- the city's first major indoor event once the new mandate takes effect.
Some in the city are happy to mask up, but disappointed a lack of vaccinations has led to this point. "We would've been able to stop the Delta variant had the vaccination rates been higher," John Butz of Boston said. "A piece of cloth on your face! Two of the vaccines come from companies that have roots in Boston. Smart people here. Wicked smart vaccines."
Others in the city are frustrated by the reimposed COVID-19 rules. "It's frustrating," Mark Cafasso of Boston said. "I think up here in the Northeast at least a lot of people got vaccinated and did their part so that's what's frustrating, is thinking you did your part but then we are still it seems regressing."
