GUILFORD COUNTY, N.C. — Guilford County's current indoor mask mandate will be put up for a vote Monday night. Board Chair Skip Alston told WFMY News 2 on Sunday he expects there will be enough votes to rescind the mandate - and no longer require masks indoors on a county level.
The special meeting is being held exclusively to discuss the face covering mandate Monday at 6 p.m. virtually over zoom and also livestreamed on Guilford County's Facebook page.
Alston told WFMY News 2 the proposal that will be put to a vote tomorrow has been prepared in a document. It specifically includes lifting the mask mandate, voluntarily asking businesses to implement their own mask mandates in certain situations, and encouraging citizens to remain cautious heading into the holiday season.
Making masks optional indoors in Guilford County would represent one of the biggest shifts in the county's stance on the COVID-19 pandemic since mid-August when the latest mask mandate was voted into effect 7-2.
While no changes will be official until the Guilford County board votes Monday, the board chair said he is confident the board will vote to lift the indoor mask mandate effective immediately.
"There will be a vote, and I anticipate the vote will be positive, and that we will lift the mask mandate effective immediately as of Monday, tomorrow," Alston said.
Chair Alston explained his reasoning for now advocating the mandate be removed, including a virus test positivity rate at or below five percent for three weeks, one of the COVID-19 metrics the board previously said in August must be satisfied in order for the mandate to be lifted. The 14-day positivity rate is four percent, according to county data, as of this article's publication.
"We reached our metric, so we are keeping our word," Alston said.
The other metric, which was not met, was a goal vaccination rate of 70% of the county population. Among Guilford County's entire population, 69.4% are partially vaccinated and 54.6% are fully-vaccinated, according to county data.
Alston also referenced a November 2 meeting between the Board and health experts in the county.
"We did meet with healthcare professionals and our health director, and they advised that it would be OK for us to lift the mandate, at this particular time, based on the circumstances we are in," said Alston.
Alston did not rule out the possibility of implementing another mask mandate in the future if the pandemic worsens again.
"If the figures go up, and it dictates that we need to implement some more policies or possible mask mandates again, then we will do that," Alston said. "The virus is not taking a vacation for the holidays, so it's still going to be out there."
WFMY News 2 reached the following commissioners Sunday who said they also supported lifting the current mask mandate: Vice Chair J. Carlvena Foster and Commissioner Justin Conrad. Commissioner Carolyn Coleman and Kay Cashion both said Sunday they are going to decide their vote at Monday's meeting.
"We have gotten plenty of emails from people saying 'continue the mask mandate', but we've gotten equal emails from people saying 'remove the mask mandate,'" said Commissioner Foster. "My personal vote would probably be to relax the mask mandate, putting some options out there for businesses."
There will be no time for public comment during Monday's meeting, Alston said.
WFMY News 2 will be attending the meeting and provide coverage of any breaking news.
Meeting details from the County: "Citizens and media partners may watch and/or listen to the meeting by: Joining the Zoom platform via computer, tablet or smartphone at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85468500195 and, if required, entering meeting ID 854 6850 0195 at the prompt."
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