AMHERST – Acting Health Director Jennifer Brown indicated she intends to use a data-driven approach to assessing the need to continue the town’s current mask mandate.

At an Aug. 12 meeting, the Board of Health unanimously voted to institute an order requiring masks indoors, with certain exceptions. With its vote, the board also empowered Brown with the authority to assess the situation to determine when the order, which went into effect on Aug. 18, could be rescinded. Brown told the board she intended to review health metrics and trends every two weeks. Though she was non-specific on the data that would influence her decision, she mentioned case counts and vaccination rates as important variables.

Board of Health Chair Nancy Gilbert said in the meeting that granting Brown this authority would streamline the process by eliminating the need to schedule and publicly post meeting announcements in accordance with the state’s open meeting laws.

“For the board to have to meet, post an open meeting, and then meet to give you more directions would be counterproductive for public safety [and] public health,” she said.

The order in many respects mirrors a mandate recently established by the city of Northampton. It requires all persons 5 years old and older to wear face coverings in all indoor public spaces and private spaces that are open to the public, regardless of vaccination status or social distancing. Exceptions will be made for those with a medical diagnosis or disability that prevents an individual from wearing a mask. Additionally, masks are not required for those who are seated and actively eating or drinking at a table or bar.

Performers who are singing or playing woodwind or brass instruments may also remain maskless, provided there is a 10-foot buffer between them and their audience. Those using public dance floors must be masked.

Use of masks for children between the ages of 2 and 5 are left to the discretion of parents or guardians; children under 2 years old should not wear masks due to risk of suffocation.

The mandate was instituted in response to the rising number of cases of coronavirus in the state and Western Massachusetts, including Amherst.

“This is happening now because there’s some concerning developments,” Brown told the board. “The delta variant counts for 85 percent of the positive cases in Massachusetts at this time [and] the delta variant has been identified in four PCR positive cases in Amherst since July 17.” She reiterated that the delta variant is twice as contagious as the original virus.

She explained those figures were only the ones she was aware of based on the data she had received from the Massachusetts Virtual Epidemiologic Network, commonly referred to as MAVEN, noting that the network does not sequence their cases. She said she believed UMass’ testing would be sequenced. She also noted that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) county tracker reflected at the time that all of the surrounding counties had been identified as high or substantial risk areas. Since then, Hampshire County was also elevated to substantial risk.

According to Brown, in the last week of June, the town had identified one case through testing and through July, there were three active cases per week. In the three weeks prior to the Aug. 12 meeting, there were 17 total cases. Brown made note of the fact that this also represents an uptick in non-delta variant cases in Amherst.

Brown also stated that according to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health’s (DPH) data, Amherst’s rate of fully vaccinated persons, which includes Pelham and individuals with second residences, is 40 percent. Among those, she added 25 percent of those identifying as Black and 28 percent of the Hispanic population per capita had been vaccinated, compared to 39 percent of those identifying as white. As of Aug. 12, 64 percent of Massachusetts residents were fully vaccinated.

Board member Stephen George noted the DPH data was likely not complete as the college populations complicate matters. “According to the census, there’s 41,000 that live here, but, as you know, many of them were not here this spring – probably around 12,000 students were not here. So they may well have been vaccinated somewhere else. Those people were not here, so there’s no way they could show up as vaccinated,” he explained.

The Board of Health agreed with Brown’s suggestion to accommodate the business community by including a “grace period” to adjust to the new requirements. Brown initially pitched making the order effective on Aug. 16, but she and the board agreed to an Aug. 18 start date in order to add more business days to make the grace period more effective. Brown said it was important to have the order in place by the weekend of Aug. 21 and 22.

She also said she would reach out to the Amherst Business Improvement District and the Health Department would assist businesses in acquiring masks and signage.

While the order outlines enforcement measures including non-criminal ticketing and potential support from the Police Department, the board and Brown also agreed in their meeting that the town should not take an aggressively negative approach to enforcement, nor should they involve the police.

“We don’t want to be punitive,” Gilbert said. “We want people to do what is going to promote the public safety. If we get into a punitive thing, that doesn’t help.”

The board allowed members of the public to speak on the matter and those who took advantage generally expressed support for the new policy. Among those who spoke was state Rep. Mindy Domb, who said she thought the “timing was perfect” and the sooner the order could be put in place, the better.

“I think having it in place before students [at local colleges and universities] arrive is critical,” she said.

Rasif Rafiq, general manager of Bistro 63, also said he was in support of the order. “As we go into the fall of 2021 and start welcoming back all of these students, into town, I think this is definitely wise to put something into effect to make sure that the community remains safe.”

Additionally, in a public announcement, Town Manager Paul Bockelman called the order a “prudent action,” stating, in part, “Our goal is to ensure the health of the most vulnerable members of our community and a mask mandate is the best tool we have to minimize the spread.”