Beverly Board Of Health To Take Second Shot At Indoor Mask Debate

Scott Souza
Updated ·1 min read

BEVERLY, MA — The Beverly Board of Health will take another crack at talking facemasks in indoor public spaces this week after abandoning last week's attempt to do so when some of the more than 300 people attending the virtual meeting overran the proceedings.

The lone agenda item for Wednesday's 6 p.m. meeting is: "Indoor Public Place Face Covering Order consideration."

The Board's last attempt to discuss a renewed mask order quickly devolved into disarray when the Board immediately pulled an agenda item considering an indoor business vaccine order and the Board of Health went into recess minutes into an expected Google Meet discussion on masks when there was no mechanism to mute those not scheduled to speak.

The agenda for Wednesday's meeting does not reference any allowance of public comment. The link to access the meeting can be accessed here.

"The Board of Health attempted to conduct a public meeting today to consider a proposed indoor mask mandate order," the city said in a statement to Patch after that meeting. "When it became clear that Board members could not facilitate their needed discussion and deliberation, they adjourned the meeting.

"We anticipate the Board will schedule another meeting in the near future for the purpose of considering the indoor mask mandate order."

Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott are among the North Shore cities and towns that have reimposed the mask order for indoor public spaces in recent weeks. Only Salem has joined Boston in passing a vaccination-proof entry order for indoor businesses such as bars, restaurants, gyms and entertainment venues.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)

More Patch Coverage: Beverly Health Board Pulls Vaccine Order, Abandons Mask Meeting

Vaccination Proof Requirements On The North Shore

This article originally appeared on the Beverly Patch