Burlington mayor proposes mask mandates for businesses lacking a vaccine mandate

The mayor of Burlington is asking that businesses that do not require a vaccine for employees and customers implement a mask mandate.

The move is now allowed after Gov. Phil Scott on Tuesday signed a bill making municipalities responsible for mask mandates through April 30.

“Today, Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger announced he will bring forward a Mask Ordinance that would require facial coverings in indoor public settings except for in situations where all employees and customers are verified to be vaccinated against COVID-19,” a city press release states.

Wikimedia Commons/Dismas

Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger

The decision to require masking will be decided on by Burlington City Council on Dec. 1.

Weinberger suggested that high COVID case counts were concerning and influenced his decision.

“On the one hand, vaccinations have made the great majority of us far safer than we were at the beginning of 2021,” he said. “On the other hand, we have repeatedly seen record numbers of cases here in Vermont in recent weeks, bucking the national trends in a concerning way. In drafting this new mask mandate the City team has sought to strike a balance with a structure that both protects public health and supports the local businesses we are asking to partner with us on the frontline of our community pandemic response.”

The mayor’s guidelines further detail that businesses must verify that all their workers and customers are vaccinated or at least that they are taking repeated COVID tests. It’s not clear how the verification process might be done, or who is responsible for enforcement.

The proposed Burlington measure states “all businesses and public institutions that affirmatively verify the vaccination of all patrons and require employees to be vaccinated or take regular COVID-19 tests” will be exempted.

If workers of any establishment do not interact with the public, then that can be sufficient for non-masking. Schools are exempt from the proposal because they are expected to follow their own COVID-related guidelines from the Agency of Education. Places of worship are also exempt.

The guidelines apply to moving around the city when not on foot. It states, “all public transportation including buses, trains, taxis, and ride shares” will be expected to comply.

Every 30 days the city would have to renew the policy for it to remain in effect. Also, if the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers the city to be of “moderate” risk levels from the virus, that can lead to suspending the policy.

The city of Brattleboro has beaten Burlington as the first city in the state to implement a new masking policy based on the new state law. Unlike Burlington, Brattleboro will have a universal mandate for all indoor businesses regardless of vaccination status.

A study from South Korea published in the Journal of the American Medical Society Internal Medicine indicates that about 30 percent of COVID carriers are without symptoms. Other estimates show more than half of younger populations are asymptomatic.

Michael Bielawski is a reporter for True North. Send him news tips at bielawski82@yahoo.com and follow him on Twitter @TrueNorthMikeB.

Images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons/Beyond My Ken and Wikimedia Commons/Dismas

8 thoughts on “Burlington mayor proposes mask mandates for businesses lacking a vaccine mandate

  1. 11/29/2021

    To the angry Fascist Communist Leftist Regressive Brattleboro Select Board.

    What makes you think Im going to blindly obey you when I wouldnt blindly obey the Communist Fascist Biden & his goon squad of bureaucrats and the Nazis at the federal level nor the State level commies??

    I WILL NOT COMPLY!

    Just because your fellow Communist Fascists up North passed an Illegal un Constitutional law doesnt make your evil Socialist Communist agenda legitimate!!

    You leftist Socialist Progessive Fascists people really hate America & our Federal & State Constitutions how are you guys taking oaths to something you hate and want to destroy!! If leftists can pick and choose what laws & when to follow them including when to use the Constitution for their benefit only one day then destroy it the next.. You can all Go &%$* yourself with whatever pro nouns & safe space soy eating monument destroying BS you want somewhere else!!

    One of these days I will tell my story of trying to save VT taxpayer money while on VVH Board of Trustees. My colleague and I had an almost flawless plan but we got shut down that how I know nowadays the Communists like Bernie Sanders are full of BS they know Climate Change Global Warming is BS also but a big money maker for them, and my colleague and I plan would have ended that almost immediately while also making them look like the unintelligent idiots they are!!

    Andrew Cotrel
    Brattleboro VT
    Patriot Constitutionalist Freedom lover
    US Army Combat Veteran OEF/OIF

    Oh yeah Lets Go Brandon, Lets Go Brattleboro Select Board FJB FBSB!!

  2. Not for nothing but as Alex Berenson reports the British “All Cause” death numbers, as of September, 2021 show approx. 30 to 35 deaths (over 80 yrs. old) per week of UNVACCINATED vs. 250 per week of the VACCINATED? (about 90% vaccine “compliance”) OK then! Question- If the vaccines “work” then WHY are they NOT working? And if masks worked, they why aren’t THEY working? Are we missing something here? Are we following the “science & data” here Mr. Mayor?

  3. …as if I really needed yet another reason to never set foot or spend another dollar in Burlington…

  4. The Omicron variant will be hyped to the max by the MSM…fear mongering full steam ahead. AND, it will be used to either cancel or cheat the 2022 election because the democrats know they are going to get the mother of all shellackings. The liberal lemmings in Vermont will milk it for all they can.

  5. Fantastic. I think all the vaxed should just hang out together, congratulating each other on their vaxed status while passing Covid to each other. Me, I’ll hang out with the unvaxed; gotta be safer!

    Watching this is just mind twisting. The vaxed get vaxed to feel safe from Covid so they then need to protect themselves from the unvaxed and maskless.

  6. I have little interest in attending any venue or patronize a restaurant where 100% are poisoned super spreaders. With more than 4 out of 5 jabbed in the state still increasing in cases and deaths, then the false narrative that one in five non jabbed are to blame, should be waning soon. What happens when the mask mandates and new or booster jabs do little to lower case numbers? Truthfully it will mean the jabs didn’t make people as safe as they were promised by the government. But not to worry, the Media propaganda machine will be scripted a new lame excuse and once again the 4 in 5 will gladly comply.

  7. “On the one hand, vaccinations have made the great majority of us far safer than we were at the beginning of 2021.” A statement completely contradicted by the numbers:

    Vermont Covid cases, Jan 2021: 4,627
    Vermont Covid cases, Oct 2021: 5,340
    Vermont Covid deaths, Jan 2021: 41
    Vermont Covid deaths, Oct 2021: 44

    And we haven’t even entered the peak of this winter yet.

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