The City Council of Concord NH has adopted a mask ordinance requiring face coverings. Masks must be worn in all retail businesses where social distancing is difficult. However, people won’t have to wear a mask if they have a health reason not to. Children under 5 years of age will not need to wear a mask.
The penalty for not complying with the ordinance is a written warning for the first offense. If there is a second offense, a $15 fine would be issued. Police and code enforcement will only be enforcing the ordinance when there is a complaint filed and use the ordinance as a means to education.
The City Council voted 14 to 1 to pass the ordinance during a Zoom meeting Monday night. Only Councilor Keith Nyhan voted against the ordinance.
NH has had 7,275 Covid-19 cases and currently have 228 infected. The State death rate is three times that of VT and Maine in deaths per million. The city needed to take action as NH is the only state in the region that does not have a statewide mask mandate.
Concord’s ordinance was originally proposed in late May but did not have enough support. The City now joins 10 other NH towns with mask mandates: Nashua, Keene, Portsmouth, Durham, Newmarket, Enfeild, Lebanon, Hanover, Lyme, and Plymouth.
Read the entire text of the ordinance here