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Hello Renee,,
West Hartford Mayor Shari G. Cantor announced today that she will terminate the local declaration of emergency related to COVID-19 and that the Town’s universal mask mandate will be repealed effective Friday, October 22, 2021 at 12:01AM.
For the past four consecutive weeks, COVID-19 cases in West Hartford and the region have been on the decline. West Hartford is currently categorized in the “yellow zone,” at the level of low community transmission, the second lowest category of risk for transmission of COVID-19 set by the state Department of Public Health. Additionally, West Hartford continues to have one of the highest vaccination rates in the country.
“We have our residents to thank for the drop in the infection rate by complying with the mask mandate when it was important to do so, getting vaccinated, and practicing personal safety protocols,” said Mayor Cantor.
West Hartford’s universal indoor mask mandate went into effect on August 20, 2021, when COVID-19 cases for every county in Connecticut were in the “red zone,” defined by the CDC as high-level community transmission with 100+ cases per 100,000 per county.
The case rate in West Hartford for the last reporting period, which ended on October 9, 2021, was down to 7.8 per 100,000, classified as low-level community transmission, defined by the Connecticut Department of Public Health as 5 to 9 cases per 100,000.
“We have been carefully monitoring the transmission rates for West Hartford and our neighboring towns, and we have achieved the benchmarks which allow us to safely lift the mask mandate,” said Town Manager Matt Hart. “This is very good news.”
A major factor in the decline in infections is West Hartford’s high vaccination rate. West Hartford Public Schools has a 90% vaccination rate among staff and students in grades 7-12. As a whole, 87.2% of West Hartford residents age 12 and older are fully vaccinated.
Mayor Cantor declared a local state of emergency on March 15, 2020, shortly after COVID-19 began spreading in the state. As the chief executive officer for the Town, the Town Manager will continue to have emergency authority under the public health emergency declared by Governor Ned Lamont, which remains in effect until February 2022. Hart said that he will re-impose the mask mandate if conditions warrant.
“It is incredible to think of how far we have come since the darkest days of the pandemic in 2020,” said Mayor Cantor. “When we first declared an emergency last year, there was no vaccine against COVID-19 and there were very few effective treatments. Today, there are highly effective vaccines available to any adult who wants one, and new therapies continue to be developed.”
Health District Director Aimee Krauss reminded all unvaccinated residents to continue to wear masks indoors in compliance with the statewide mask policy. Additionally, all residents regardless of vaccination status are required to wear masks in certain settings such as healthcare facilities, facilities housing vulnerable populations, public and private transit, correctional facilities, schools, and childcare facilities.
The Town of West Hartford will not require masks in municipal buildings with the exception of the public libraries, which serve a population that is not eligible for the vaccine yet.
Individual businesses may choose to have their own policies that require customers to wear a mask in order to receive service.
“Although our numbers have greatly improved, we are still in the midst of a global pandemic with a deadly disease that can be very unpredictable,” said Krauss. “Masking up remains one of our most important disease mitigation strategies, and compliance with the state mask policy will help protect against future spikes.”
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