LYNNFIELD — Mask up, Lynnfield.
Starting Monday, Aug. 23 anyone ages 3 and up will be required to wear facial coverings (with certain medical exceptions) inside municipal buildings — including the schools — or face a $200 fine.
Wednesday night, the Board of Health (BOH), Select Board, School Committee and a large, standing-room-only group of extremely vocal — and, at times, confrontational — parents packed into the Al Merritt Center to address the town’s recent spike in COVID-19 cases.
By the time the dust settled nearly two hours later, BOH had voted to adopt a regulation requiring mandatory masks in town-owned or controlled buildings. The School Committee and Select Board each voted unanimously to adopt the regulation.
It wasn’t pretty, as the meeting deteriorated into a one-sided shouting match on the part of several people who spoke in opposition.
“Say goodbye to your jobs,” one man screamed.
“Child abusers,” one man yelled, as Select Board member Phil Crawford was making a motion to adopt the mandate.
One man accused town officials of being “lying hypocrites,” while another threatened, “you know we can sue you.”
Chair Dick Dalton opened the meeting with a reminder that the BOH has the power to issue orders that supersede committee votes.
BOH Chair Rocco Iocco said current data “is very concerning.
“We have not reached the peak of the current surge, so we are in a very vulnerable position. We know face coverings provide significant benefit in reducing transmissions,” he added.
Board member Kelly Migliero said she lost her father to COVID-19 and fully supports the mandate.
“We want kids in school as much as possible and there are data that show masks slow transmission,” Migliero said. “Our task is to keep reviewing the numbers and keep our kids in school.”
Emergency Management Team Director and Fire Chief Glenn Davis said Lynnfield’s 14-day average daily incidence rate (20.9) is the highest in Essex County, well above the state average (12.2) and nearly double the county (10.8) and Lynn (11) rates. The town’s 14-day positivity rate (4.18) also is above state (2.69) and county (2.99) averages.
“We are almost double the state average,” Davis said. “We went from a 60-day period with zero cases to this (19 cases over the last seven days). What’s changed this summer? The Delta variant, which spreads twice as fast.
“The CDC says kids with Delta are at risk for serious illness. Protecting them from COVID is more important than ever, especially for those who are not vaccinated or not eligible for the vaccine.”
The meeting turned confrontational after Town Administrator Rob Dolan said he recommended the Select Board adopt the BOH regulation. At that point, a man blurting out at Dolan (one of several officials not wearing masks), “Where’s your mask?… if you felt this way you’d all be wearing masks.”
Many speakers repeated the same objections, claiming it is a parent’s right to decide if their children should wear masks; masks don’t stop transmission; mask mandates violate personal freedoms; and masks cause physical and emotional harm to children.
“There’s no evidence that masks work,” said Michael Geary.
“We have a legal right to make choices about medical treatment,” said Suzeanne Guertin. “Stand up for freedom and choice … the mandate is unconstitutional.”
Guertin read a list of about two dozen communities she said are not mandating masks — none which are in Essex County.
“Our job as parents is to make health decisions for our children,” said Sondra Smyrnios. “Masks, they don’t work.”
Kelly Regan defiantly said “we’re done with the masks” and that masks “infringe on … freedom, rights, safety and physical health.”
One of the few speakers supporting the mandate was Carly Caggiano, a self-described “COVID nurse.” Her message was powerful as she shared heartbreaking stories about her patients with the virus.
“A family was saying goodbye to their grandmother and they said they wished they had taken it more seriously, that had they known, they would have done things differently. Isn’t it worth their life to wear a mask?” Caggiano said.
During a roll-call vote, School Committee member Kate DePrizio sent out mixed signals, saying “I’m struggling that we haven’t discussed what the off ramp is and what the metrics of that and the timeline of that.”
Her comment was met with strong applause, which turned to groans after saying she “still stand(s) behind the science,” voting yes.
School Committee Chair Rich Sjoberg said “in order to protect the health of everyone, the measures provided by the BOH are reasonable and necessary to protect the public health interest.
“We are one Lynnfield and we all need to hear and heed to the advice of our experts,” Sjoberg said. “We need to, based on the expert opinions and recommendations, do what is reasonable and safe for all Lynnfield students.”
“Nobody wants this, but the reality is Lynnfield’s numbers are the worst on the North Shore now,” Crawford said. “People say ‘why would you do this?’ My answer is ‘why wouldn’t you?'”
