New Hampshire City Council Votes to Fine People Up to $250 for Not Wearing Masks

City council members of Keene, New Hampshire, voted on Thursday to continue to enact regressive coronavirus policies, opting to mandate masks in indoor areas yet again. However, the Keene City Council took the policy a step further, choosing to fine “repeat violators” up to $250.

On Thursday night, in a 10-3 vote, city councilors opted to reinstitute a mask mandate for all indoor spaces in Keene. The rule, which goes into effect Monday, applies to all ages ten and older, with exceptions for those with certain disabilities. However, while previous mandates across the country would often target businesses for failure of compliance, the Keene City Council voted “to fine repeat violators rather than penalize businesses that fail to enforce the new rules.” That includes a verbal and written warning upon the first infraction. The second time, the maskless individual will face a $100 fine, and the following violations rise to $250.

City Manager Elizabeth Dragon stated that police will be responsible for enforcement.

“Our police department will focus on educating the public,” Dragon said. “They’re very good at that. I’m confident we’ll be able to come up with a plan.”

According to reports, the council will review the measure “for possible termination at least every 60 days.”

City council members effectively ignored the cries of the public, who made their concerns over the then-proposed mandate clear during a public hearing weeks ago:

But most people who spoke Wednesday night warned city councilors against restricting their freedoms, often questioning the consensus among medical experts that masks are effective at reducing viral transmission.

Dave Rossall said people should “take responsible steps” to combat COVID-19, including hand-washing and staying home when sick. Rossall pushed back on an indoor mask mandate, though, saying face coverings should be optional.

“I think we should err on the side of freedom,” he said.

According to the report from the Keene Sentinel, several business owners also warned that the mandate would “scare off customers and prove difficult, or even dangerous, for employees to enforce.”

But Dr. Don Caruso, president and CEO of Cheshire Medical Center, is among those who evidently believes he knows what is best, concluding that, when people had the choice to wear a mask, they made “the wrong decisions.”

“The reality is that masks make a difference,” he said. “Personal choice is one way we tried to go. When we tried personal choice, people made the wrong decisions.”

Ward 5 Councilor Philip Jones, who supported the requirement, argued to his colleagues that they had a “social conscience” to bring back a mask mandate.

The city council’s vote follows the lead of blue states such as California and New York, both of which are reintroducing different forms of mask mandates in the wake of the omicron variant, which public health officials say “might even be less severe” than the Delta variant.

Notably, Florida has never once had a mask mandate in place. Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) went as far as canceling local fines related to local mask mandates — yet it has continued to have among the lowest coronavirus case rates per capita in the nation — a trend that has carried on for weeks on end.