Could Rochester see the return of a mask mandate?
As a result of the latest spike in Covid-19 cases, the City of Rochester is considering several policy options to mitigate the spread of the virus, including reinstating a mask mandate, Mayor Kim Norton said Tuesday.
Norton said details about a possible emergency order are still being discussed, but noted there appears to be more support from the council to take action than there was in August, when the council rescinded an emergency mask order tied to the emergence of the delta variant.
She said this time around, the city is getting more pressure to take action, especially after Minneapolis and St. Paul adopted requirements last week. The mayor also attributed some support for a mask mandate to a December statement by Mayo Clinic and other Minnesota hospitals urging the public to take precautions to reduce the strain on health care systems.
“I think Mayo Clinic, from its perspective, was signaling, ‘we need more help.’ That was their call to the community for help, but some in leadership just weren’t quite ready at that point to do anything,” Norton said in an interview. “I think they are starting to get ready now, knowing the next two, three, four weeks could be really bad.”
The renewed conversation comes as Olmsted County — as with other parts of the country — experience a surge in infections due to the omicron variant. The latest figures show the county’s percent positivity rate, a key indicator of viral transmission, at 28 percent, the highest of the pandemic.
Norton said while she does expect there would be individuals who would refuse to comply with a mandate, she believes enough people would be willing to take action to make a difference in transmission rates.
“For many people, they are expecting leadership to tell them when things are serious enough that they need to respond,” said Norton.
Norton said her current talks with the council are about finding a way to implement a policy that is “reasonable, but not punitive.”
The last time around, in August, the mayor had issued an emergency mask requirement, only to have it struck down by the council in a 5-2 vote.
Ward 1 Councilor Patrick Keane was among those who voted to rescind the order, saying its flaws would “make it ineffective right out of the gate.”
This time around, however, Keane said he would more receptive to an emergency order that more broadly tackled the problems facing the city, including the potential for staff shortages due to quarantining.
“We are talking about community response and where we are with the pandemic right now,” said Keane. “Right now, continuity of services is the bigger concern for me. If we had that stuff done, would it make sense to also do something masking? I am not sure.”
Sean Baker is a Rochester journalist and the founder of Med City Beat.
Cover photo: File / Licensed via Getty
