Beverly Board of Health Votes 2-1 to Impose Four-Week Indoor Mask Mandate

BEVERLY — January 5, 2022 — Beverly's Board of Health voted 2-1 to impose a four-week indoor mask mandate effective January 6, covering all indoor public spaces in the city. Health Director Bill Burke cited a surge in Beverly's seven-day COVID-19 incidence rate from 54 cases per 100,000 in late November to 171.48 in early January, while Mayor Cahill reported 50 inpatient COVID-positive cases at Beverly Hospital — approaching the prior peaks of 62 in April 2020 and 73 in January 2021. Board member Susan Higgins, the sole dissenting vote on the mandate, first moved to substitute a non-binding public health advisory, arguing the city was not operating under a declared public health emergency and that 74 percent vaccination rates and natural immunity warranted a lighter touch; that motion failed 1-2. The board then passed the mandate with a four-week sunset clause 2-1, with Chair Alpine and member Justin Jordan in favor and Higgins opposed. The Greater Beverly Chamber of Commerce, whose executive director Leslie Gould reported that 74.17 percent of 120 surveyed member businesses preferred leaving mask decisions to individual owners, had asked for exactly such a defined end date.