Salem institutes indoor mask mandate

Anyone heading to a restaurant, gym, museum, or any other public place in Salem will soon be required to wear a mask indoors.

On Tuesday, Salem joined a growing number of Massachusetts communities reinstituting an indoor mask mandate. Salem’s Board of Health voted unanimously on Tuesday to require masking in any indoor public place, including city buildings and businesses, NBC Boston reported.

The mandate takes effect Aug. 23 and will end Nov. 13 unless the board votes to extend it — which means it will be in effect during Salem’s busiest month for tourism, October.

Nicole Vecchi, who works at Pentagram Witchcraft and Magick Shoppe in Salem, told NBC Boston the shop is usually busy come October.

“I think it’s going to make a huge impact,” she said. “If we start going backwards again, I don’t know how anyone is going to recover, especially retail and restaurants. I just don’t know how they’re going to recover from that.”

Salem is not currently considering other restrictions.

“The City has no intention at this time of implementing capacity restrictions, early closure times, or marketing intended to deter visitation,” Salem said in a public announcement. “The primary focus of the City’s efforts over the next three months is on resuming high levels of mask usage and expanding vaccination up-take as extensively as possible, especially among front-line workers.”

Masks will also be required in Salem Public Schools for all students and teachers at the start of the school year, NBC Boston reported.

According to state data reported Aug. 5, Salem’s percent positivity rate is 2.72%, above the statewide 14-day average of 2.11%.