The Portland Maine City Council is now discussing a mask mandate which will have a vax carve out.
Order 131-21/22 Amendment to Portland City Code Chapter 17 Re: Face Covering Mandate - Sponsored by Councilor Andrew Zarro
Following extensive public comment and discussion by the Council during the December 20 meeting, this item proposes the adoption of a face covering mandate. It is modeled almost entirely on language recently adopted by Burlington, Vermont, with minor changes aimed at tailoring it to Portland’s existing practices around COVID-19 (e.g. it does not adopt capacity restrictions in the same way that Burlington’s ordinance does) and fitting it within the City’s Code of Ordinances.
Critical care hospitalizations in Maine have reached some of the highest numbers for the entire period of the Covid-19 pandemic, and this is happening despite a high county-wide rate of vaccinations and is primarily the result of the delta and now omicron variants’ contagiousness. As a result, state health officials, along with the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials and the Maine Center for Disease Control officials, advise the use of all preventative measures, including the use of face coverings in public indoor spaces. It is hoped that these measures will succeed at slowing the relentless spread of Covid-19, especially among the immune-compromised and children under 5, who are not yet allowed to be vaccinated.
This item must be read on two separate days. Staff is requesting that the second reading be waived, which requires seven affirmative votes. Staff also requests that this item be passed as an emergency. Seven votes are required for passage as an emergency following public comment.
This is about Portland Maine. Please do not comment about the other Portland.
This was my email I sent out on Friday alerting people to this item.
Back in September, I wrote to you with an urgent message to reach out to the Portland City Council regarding a proposed mask mandate to be enforced by Portland business for their patrons. After tabling the matter, the council ended up removing the mask mandate from the order before passing other parts of a renewed order declaring an emergency.
On Monday, January 3, 2022 the Council has on their agenda two items relating to the ongoing pandemic.
The first Order is to repeal the order they eventually passed that continued the “State of Emergency” declaration so that they could (and have to) hold meetings remotely. They took public comment at their December 20, 2021 meeting and then punted it to this meeting. They will not be taking further comment on this order that they should pass as it is no longer necessary. It only relates to their ability to hold meeting in person and they have worked the logistics to allow the public to participate remotely.
The second Order is to institute a mask mandate via enactment of a new city ordinance* for entry to any public building in the city.
Public Building means any building or portion of a building within the City of Portland that is regularly accessible to the general public. For purposes of this ordinance, a Public Building shall not include a private residence or residential unit, a public pre-school or K through 12 school (which remains under the authority of the Board of Public Education), a church or other house of worship, office space where the occupant(s) can be physically separated from the general public, or the portions of a theater, gym, or athletic arena where all of the individuals performing, exercising, or playing have been vaccinated and where there is either space, a physical barrier, or ventilation system separates them from the general public or audience.
Don’t complain to me if you think this language is convoluted. Laws are written to keep lawyers in business. The jist of this is that you are apparently safe in churches, theaters, gyms and athletic arenas, but not other buildings. It defines office buildings as public spaces requiring masking while employees are working at desks in open spaces. (That is really going to encourage people to come back to work in Portland offices.)
They intend this to go into effect on January 4, 2022, hours after they pass it. This new ordinance is so convoluted that if a business screens and only allows vaccinated people, they can take off their masks. (This is separate from the proposed vaccine mandate you are hearing about.)
As I just noted, there was a petition submitted to the Council requesting that the enact an ordinance requiring all people entering public buildings to be “fully” vaccinated. That is not on the Council agenda and cannot be added to the proposed ordinance on Monday (it could be added at a future meeting).
The agenda descriptions for the two orders are below.
It is urgent that you contact the Portland City Councilors by noon on Monday to express your concern with the mask mandate on Monday’s meeting agenda and a potential vaccine mandate at a future meeting.