City Council Meeting Date: January 18, 2022
To: Mayor and City Council
From: Ben Martig, City Administrator
Mark Elliott, Police Chief
Title
Consideration of Emergency Ordinance Requiring Face Coverings in Indoor Spaces of Public Accommodation.
Body
Action Requested:
The Northfield City Council may consider an Emergency Ordinance Requiring Face Coverings in Indoor Spaces of Public Accommodation.
* In accordance with City Charter 4.8 this will require at least five members of the council to be approved.
Summary Report:
City Councilor Reister submitted a request to consider an immediate mandated community-wide indoor mask mandate in light of the current state of the pandemic. Council Reister's request is attached. Other City Councilors had inquired on the topic and interest exploring this.
Both the CDC and the MDH have guidance recommending masking when the level of community transmission rates are at the substantial or high level. Neither the federal or state have masking mandates, but rather recommend masking leaving local officials to decide on mandates.
Several cities have enacted public mask mandates including the cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis and suburbs of Golden Valley and Hopkins. These mandates generally require all people, vaccinated and unvaccinated to wear a mask in indoor public spaces.
The City of Bloomington recently addressed the topic of citywide masking based on information from Dr. Kelly and staff at the Bloomington Public Health Department. The less severe, but highly transmissible Omicron variant has driven higher infection rates. Recommendations from CDC and MDH were encouraged in order to limit transmission and severity through vaccinations and masking when appropriate. There was no city wide masking mandate put in place. Local leaders in Bloomington passed a resolution last week encouraging, but not requiring, residents and visitors to wear masks and follow other CDC and state health guidance on curbing COVID.
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