While cities and states across the country begin to remove their mask mandates and vaccination policies with plummeting Covid-19 cases, Milwaukee's mask mandate remains in effect.
Milwaukee Ald. Marina Dimitrijevic, one of the key backers of the city’s mask mandate, does not expect it to be dropped before it is set to expire March 1. March 1 is the date of Milwaukee Common Council's next meeting.
Dimitrijevic, who chairs the Milwaukee Common Council's public health and safety committee, said the city remains in “extreme transmission at this time.”
“We will check the data next week and if a decline continues, the mandate will likely expire on the date that was set,” she said in a statement to the Milwaukee Business Journal.
Acting Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson signed the city's mask mandate on Jan. 20 after it was approved by the Milwaukee Common Council in mid January.
The mask mandate requires those 3 years old and older to wear a mask inside public buildings. The end date on the mask mandate was moved up to March 1 from the previously proposed April 10.
Exemptions to the ordinance include people engaged in athletic activities, performers during performing art events, individuals receiving dental services or medical treatment and individuals consuming food or beverage.
Milwaukee Health Department Commissioner Kirsten Johnson previously said the city health department did not plan to enforce this mandate as it lacks the staffing resources and is focusing its attention on educating the public on vaccinations and supplying Covid-19 tests when needed.
Some Milwaukee restaurateurs like Omar Shaikh, who operates Carnevor and the 3rd St. Market Hall, said the mask mandate is impacting downtown Milwaukee businesses.
"There are a lot of people that don't want to come down here because of the mask mandate. They are over it. We need to move on. The thing is the whole mask policy with restaurants is goofy. You have to wear it standing, but when you sit down, you can take it off. Does the virus go over your head when you're sitting down?" Shaikh said.
He added that he would absolutely welcome an earlier end to the mandate.
"At that point, I don't think it makes sense anymore at this point. Cases are plummeting around the country," Shaikh said.
Others expressed opposition to the mask mandate when it was passed including the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce president Tim Sheehy, Pabst Theater Group CEO Gary Witt and the Commercial Association of Realtors Wisconsin CEO Tracy Johnson.
On the city's weekly Covid-19 health update on Tuesday, Cavalier Johnson said when he originally signed the mask mandate on Jan. 20, he did so with the awareness that the mandate could be reconsidered or ended early if Covid-19 trends improved.
"That is within the purview of the Common Council. That legislation would have to come here. If the trends continue to go the way that they are, I’d be interested in reviewing that legislation," he said.
This week the city reported that Milwaukee's Covid-19 percent positivity rate has fallen into the substantial transmission category, which is under 10% for the first time since Dec. 2, 2021. Percent positivity was 9.7%, down from 14.5% one week prior.
The city's seven-day disease burden rate remained in the extreme transmission category at 220.2 cases per 100,000 This, however, also was down from the previous week's rate of 401.1 cases per 100,000.
The state of New York announced the end to a mask mandate on Wednesday following a recent decline in cases. New York had a strict mask mandate in place since mid-December. It will now lift it Feb.10, though masks will continue to be required in schools, on public transportation and in state-run hospitals. California also announced the end of its mask mandate starting Feb. 15, and Oregon said it will remove its indoor mask mandate prior to March 31.