Concord City Council approved a mask mandate Monday night that requires customers to wear face coverings in certain businesses, primarily retail stores, through early January.
In a nearly unanimous vote, councilors agreed to institute the ordinance after receiving more than two hours of public testimony, which included arguments from community members strongly in favor of a mandate and those adamantly opposed. The lone dissenting vote came from Ward 7 Councilor Keith Nyhan, who unsuccessfully called for an amendment that would have allowed certain businesses to opt-out.
Nyhan called the mandate a “toothless ordinance,” noting that it is more of a feel-good measure that the city’s code enforcement office and police department does not plan to proactively enforce. He said if the council really wanted to make a strong statement about the importance of mask-wearing that the ordinance should include a hefty fine. He proposed raising the fine from $15 to $50 for the first violation, without a written warning.
But a $50 fine was strongly opposed by the council and Mayor Jim Bouley, who said the goals of the ordinance are education and protecting others from COVID-19.
“I am absolutely not interested in punishing anyone,” Bouley said. “And I just can’t imagine somebody who is down on their luck … somebody’s lost their job and all of the sudden you’re going to come along and wack them with a $50 fine. I just think that’s outrageous. I think that we want to change behavior. We want people to be safe and respectful of one another. We do not need to be punishing one another.”
While several face-covering ordinances passed by other municipalities in New Hampshire require people age 10 and older wear masks, Concord City Council narrowly backed an amendment from Ward 10 Councilor Zandra Rice Hawkins to lower the age requirement to 5. Citing recent medical findings that show children can often be “superspreaders” of respiratory germs, Rice Hawkins said lowering the age requirement makes sense. She also noted that many school-aged children are being required to wear masks in educational settings.
Under the ordinance, children under the age of 5 and those at risk of health issues by wearing a mask are exempt from doing so.
Concord Police Chief Brad Osgood told the council during its special meeting Monday that it’s unlikely a person is going to have documentation on them to prove they have a medical condition that prevents them from wearing a mask.
“We would take it on its face that they do have the health exception,” he said.
While some residents expressed concern that officers would patrol the streets and confront anyone without a mask, Osgood said that will not be the department’s approach to enforcement. Rather, a store owner, employee or customer will have to file a complaint with the city and an officer will respond, when code enforcement is not available to do so.
Under the ordinance, people who are found in noncompliance will be issued a written warning for the first offense and a $15 fine for the second offense.
Concord’s ordinance does not mandate face coverings in all public places, but rather focuses on addressing a gap in current state orders on COVID-19. New Hampshire’s neighbors have all instituted statewide mask mandates, but Gov. Chris Sununu has stopped short and is requiring only attendees of gatherings with 100 people or more to wear face coverings. His executive orders lay out detailed requirements for the food service, cosmetology, fitness and other industries, and while employees interacting with the public are required to wear masks, the state has not mandated that customers of department stores, drug stores, convenience stores and grocery stores also mask up.
In recent months, both locally owned shops and national retail chains have set their own mandates, with some saying they will refuse service to people without face masks.
Before councilors voted to approve the face-covering mandate late Monday, they heard from 24 people, most of whom are Concord residents. Testimony was split pretty evenly between those who backed the measure and those who said a local ordinance is unnecessary given there is presently no community spread of COVID-19 in Concord.
Mary Deal, a retired physician who worked in schools, said she supported the council’s proposed mask mandate and recommended that the city’s age requirement for children to wear masks be lowered from 10 to 2 in accordance with guidance issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“I think by setting a good example the city can do what our governor has not done,” Deal said, noting that she has called Sununu’s office daily for six weeks to advocate for a statewide mask mandate. “I realize there will be occasions where people will ignore the mask mandate, but if you set the norm most people will follow.”
Sarah Robinson said there is a small demographic that will refuse to wear masks even if an ordinance is put in place, but that noncompliance shouldn’t deter the council from acting. She highlighted how COVID-19 has disproportionately affected minorities in New Hampshire, and nationally, and said that wearing a mask is a show of solidarity and a simple step everyone can take to protect vulnerable members of the community.
While about half of the people who spoke expressed similar sentiments, others disputed the science behind face coverings and said a mandate would infringe on their basic rights under the Constitution.
Cheryl Rounds told the council that she feels “very uncomfortable” in stores where people are wearing masks and said mask-wearing creates a “hostile environment.”
Similarly, John Gaudet said an ordinance would only increase divisions within the community and needlessly create confrontations, including between members of the public and the police at an already fragile time.
Several residents said it should be up to individual businesses to make the decision about whether to require customers to wear masks or not.
“It’s very different when the government makes that decision for people,” Serena Varley told the council.
“I’m concerned about where the end is,” she continued. “Once we put something like this in place when will it end?”