NEWBURYPORT, MASS. (WHDH) - Another Massachusetts community has chosen to instate an indoor mask mandate as COVID-19 cases continue to surge locally and state-wide.
Effective immediately, Newburyport will once again require people to wear a mask in all public indoor establishments and venues within the city, according to an official statement from the Newburyport Health Department.
“A vaccine is a layer of protection, a mask is a layer of protection, and what you do is you layer them,” said Dr. Sam Merabi, member of the Newburyport Board of Health. “Society can not function if our hospitals are overwhelmed, that is just the basic fact. If our own hospitals are overwhelmed, society shuts down.”
Dr. Glenn Focht, Vice President & CMO of Anna Jacques Hospital in Newburyport, said the hospital is continuously seeing COVID-19 patients, and that the number of patients is rising.
The hospital currently has 25 patients who are critically ill with COVID-19, said Dr. Focht. This number is up from November, when Anna Jacques Hospital only had five or six patients critically ill with COVID-19.
“[The hospital] is stressed and stretched to be able to continue to meet the needs of all its patients,” said Dr. Focht.
The announcement of the mask mandate comes as Massachusetts health officials on Thursday reported over 21,000 new coronavirus cases, a new single-day case record.
Many other communities including Salem, Lowell, Boston, Billerica, Lynn, Revere, and Newton have already reinstated indoor mask mandates.
Newburyport’s mask mandate goes into effect immediately on Friday and will be revisited on February 1, 2022.
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