The Peterborough Select Board is considering a mask mandate and the ConVal community is being asked to pledge to prevent the spread of COVID-19 during the winter holidays as COVID-19 cases rise in the area.
There were eight active cases in Peterborough on Tuesday, Fire Chief Ed Walker said at the Select Board meeting, with 34 cumulative cases. There have been more than eight cases on a single day before, he said, but the current numbers are still high, matching regional and national trends. All town staff received new guidelines on travel and quarantine protocol last week, he said, and every employee traveling outside of New England in a nonessential capacity are required to quarantine for 14 days or produce a negative COVID-19 test after seven, he said. Some employees have options to work remotely.
In the region, many towns have reached the highest total of active cases they’ve had since the onset of the pandemic. Rindge is up to 35 active cases; New Ipswich has 15; Jaffrey 12 and Dublin is up to eight.
In the ConVal School District, students and staff are inviting community members to join them in taking a pledge that they’ll wear masks, wash their hands, stay six feet away from others, and avoid large crowds over the holidays so students can return to school in person in January. In a video the School District posted this week, students cite learning in person, playing with friends at recess, participating in sports and theater, and graduating in person as their motivations for taking the pledge. The Peterborough Fire Department put up a video of their members taking the pledge.
A pharmacist at the Peterborough CVS recently tested positive for COVID-19, senior manager of corporate communications Amy Thibault said, and that the company received notice on Monday. CVS follows guidance from the state health department and does not engage in contact tracing unless recommended to, she said, but they professionally deep cleaned and disinfected the store on Monday night and placed the employee on paid leave to quarantine per CDC guidelines.
The Peterborough Select Board opted to hold a public hearing via Zoom about a town mask ordinance and discussed the ordinance’s draft at their meeting on Tuesday. The ordinance would require all restaurants, stores, and offices in town to require members of the public to wear a face covering while patronizing them. The ordinance would only apply to business spaces, Deputy Town Administrator Nicole MacStay said. Businesses in violation would receive a warning for the first offense, followed by a $200 fine for every subsequent violation. The aim of the ordinance, if passed, would be to support business owners in enforcing their own guidelines rather than targeting individual violators, Select Board member Ed Juengst said.
Although mask wearing effectively prevents the spread of COVID-19, it is unclear whether a mask ordinance itself would make a difference in preventing the spread, Walker said. The legitimacy of the ordinance relies on a state law concerning the local Health Officer’s authority to enforce rules, MacStay said. Business owners could call the police to remove members of the public refusing to comply, as always, although the Police Department’s limited capacity means that every organization would have to be its own first line of enforcement, and residents “tattling” on others and getting police involved is a concern, she said. Residents are encouraged to submit questions or comments about the draft ordinance via email or Facebook, and attend the remote public hearing scheduled for Tuesday, Dec. 1 at 6 p.m.