Milwaukee Common Council committee recommends bringing back mask mandate
Some members of the Milwaukee Common Council want to reinstate a mask mandate, though key elements such as whether there would be an enforcement component remain subject to change before the council meets Jan. 18.
The council’s Public Safety and Health Committee took up the mask mandate hours before Acting Mayor Cavalier Johnson announced Friday evening that the city had received 500,000 N95 masks from the state.
The Health Department will make them available to the public from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at Northwest Health Center, 7630 W. Mill Road, and Southside Health Center, 1639 S. 23rd St., and starting Monday also at the Menomonee Valley Site, 2401 W. St. Paul Ave., and Milwaukee Public Libraries during normal business hours.
The city will also purchase 50,000 KN95 masks for distribution.
“These higher-quality masks do a better job of keeping COVID at bay, and our residents should have access to that protection,” said Johnson, who is among the candidates running in the spring mayoral election.
Three committee members — Alds. José G. Pérez, Khalif Rainey and Marina Dimitrijevic, the committee’s chairwoman — voted in favor of the new mask mandate.
Alds. Scott Spiker and Mark Borkowski abstained, citing the unknowns about the legislation’s final form.
The proposal comes after months of back-and-forth between Dimitrijevic and Health Commissioner Kirsten Johnson about whether a mask mandate should be reinstated through the existing ordinance under which the mandate is triggered by the health commissioner issuing a public health order — or whether a mandate should be done solely through legislation.
And it comes as a surge in cases and hospitalizations are stressing medical systems, including the city’s Health Department that over the holidays saw hourslong lines for testing.
The vote followed a lengthy discussion Friday that included concerns about the effect on businesses of having — and not having — a city mandate in effect and what role city enforcement on businesses that are not complying should play.
Friday’s votes come on the heels of a decision by Milwaukee Public Schools to remain virtual until at least Jan. 18, with school board members calling on city officials to issue a mask mandate for all buildings and events open to the public.
The city previously had a mask requirement that was in effect only as long as there was a health order. The mandate lapsed on June 1 along with the lifting of the last health order.
A mask advisory has been in place.
The new legislation proposed by Alds. JoCasta Zamarripa and Dimitrijevic would require face coverings for anyone over 3 years old in buildings open to the public.
Instead of being in effect when a public health order is in place, the mandate would be in effect whenever the transmission rate of COVID-19 is at least 100 new cases per 100,000 Milwaukee County residents over the previous seven days.