After extending a mask mandate for town properties in April, the Wilton Select Board adjusted the rule to allow maskless outdoor recreation during its most recent Select Board meeting.

On April 19, following the retirement of the state-wide mask mandate, the Wilton Select Board voted to continue to require masks on town-owned properties, including the town hall and recycling center.

On Monday, the board revisited the rule, to discuss the use of town-owned recreation properties such as Frog Pond, the flats in front of Florence Rideout Elementary School and the town reservoir.

Selectman Matt Fish said he stood by the original intent of the rule, to continue to require face masks at the recycling center and town hall, but said it should be adjusted to take into account other uses of town properties. He said the risk of transmission during outdoor recreation, when properly socially distanced, is very low, and people who are swimming, hiking, or enjoying the outdoors on town owned properties shouldn’t be required to wear a mask.

He said the original rule, which was made upon his own motion, hadn’t taken that into account, and alleviating that requirement was a “more practical approach.”

Fish was clear the exemption would not apply to the recycling center, despite most users being outdoors throughout their visit, noting that the town had a responsibility to protect its own employees, and to protect the users from other membership towns, as Lyndeborough, Mason, Temple and Greenville also use the recycling center.

Selectman Kermit Williams agreed on both points. However, he also requested a caveat to Fish’s motion, to make clear that while the town would not require the use of masks for outdoor recreation, they would also not stand in the way of individual groups using town properties making their own rules and enforcing them.

While Gov. Chris Sununu did not extend the state-wide mandate to wear face masks in public, the state’s current universal best practices still advocate for the same general steps to control the spread of COVID-19 that have been used throughout the year, including social distancing and the use of face masks.

Six feet of distance is still suggested, and more when doing activities that increase the risk of respiratory aerosol production, which includes activities such as physical exertion.

Ashley Saari can be reached at 924-7172 ext. 244 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on Twitter @AshleySaariMLT.