Mayor looks at easing Raleigh's mask mandate

Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin is considering ways to loosen Raleigh's mask mandate for some businesses.

Posted 5:46 p.m. Dec 8, 2021 — Updated 11:39 p.m. Dec 8, 2021

Matt Talhelm

, WRAL reporter

RALEIGH, N.C. — Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin is considering ways to loosen Raleigh's mask mandate for some businesses.

Raleigh officials have required people to wear masks inside supermarkets, retail shops and other indoor gathering places since mid-August, when the coronavirus' delta variant led to a spike in infections and hospitalizations.

As the virus caseload declined in the fall, Baldwin insisted that officials would keep the mandate in place until Wake County became a "moderate transmission" area, as defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The county is now a "high transmission" area and would have to cut its caseload by more than 70 percent – from 179 a day to 50 a day over a seven-day period – and have its positive rate on virus tests drop back below 5 percent – it's now 5.07 percent – to be considered a "moderate" locale.

But during Tuesday night's Raleigh City Council meeting, the mayor asked city staff to research ways to relax the mask mandate for gyms and small retail shops. She said the requirement is hurting some small businesses, and she's heard from people struggling with their physical and mental health because they're not comfortable working out in a mask.

"It just really got me thinking about what are we really doing, and does this really help," Baldwin said Wednesday.

"People are tired, and we have to acknowledge human behavior. We have to acknowledge people’s state of mind," she said. "We’re doing this to try to find balance, and what we need staff to do is do some research, look at what other communities are doing [and] how they’re doing it."

Apex, Cary, Fuquay-Varina, Holly Springs, Wake Forest and Wendell don't have mask mandates.

Some shoppers bag Wake mask mandates

O2 Fitness President Doug Warf said he's eager to see Raleigh drop its mask mandate, which is tough to enforce because many surrounding communities don't have the same requirement.

"When masks went back on in August, it really halted things for us," Warf said. "It is hard for us to enforce it because there is no enforcement from the city."

"There’s no [viral] spread in our other clubs that we run in other areas without mask mandates, so we know we can keep people safe," he added.

Baldwin said she wants to see how the virus numbers are trending two weeks after the Thanksgiving travel season before making any decision, which could come late next week.

North Carolina's numbers have been on the rise for several days. The state reported 3,294 new infections on Wednesday, up 8 percent from a week ago. The seven-day average is now up to 3,067 a day, which is a 66 percent jump from a week ago.

But the numbers still pale in comparison to those seen during the delta variant surge. Wake County saw 6,891 cases in the two weeks leading up to the Aug. 13 mask mandate, which is more than double the number of cases in the county in the last two weeks.

Health experts predict the numbers will continue to rise through the holiday season, especially with the new omicron variant spreading across the U.S. No cases of that variant have been confirmed in North Carolina yet.

"Masks are effective, regardless of the next variant that comes along, while we’re still learning about it [and] understanding how easily and quickly it can spread to other people," said Emily Sickbert-Bennett, director of infection prevention at UNC Medical Center.

In addition to Raleigh, Garner, Knightdale, Morrisville, Rolesville, Zebulon and unincorporated areas of Wake County have indoor mask mandates in place. Durham and Orange counties have countywide mandates in place.

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