Milwaukee Mask Mandate Expires

The City of Milwaukee’s second mask mandate is no more. The measure quietly expired as the calendar turned from February to March.

The ordinance required anyone older than three who is in a building open to the public to wear a face covering.

Enforcement of the second mandate, which went into effect Jan. 22, was entirely unlike the 2020-2021 mandate. The first mandate resulted in health inspectors receiving threats and tens of thousands of dollars in fines being issued to businesses. Violations of the mandate (which expired in June 2021) factored into Common Council decisions to close Junior’s Cocktail Lounge and VIP Lounge in 2021.

The second mandate’s adoption drew support from some businesses, notably restaurants whose owners said this made it easier to get customers to wear masks compared to a private mandate, and the Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association. But a number of business groups opposed it, including VISIT Milwaukee, the Wisconsin Restaurant Association and the Wisconsin Center District, arguing it would make the city an island of regulation.

Health Commissioner Kirsten Johnson, in a committee meeting discussing the proposal in early January, said she had no intention of enforcing the second mandate the same way the original measure was enforced. She also didn’t think it would impact what at the time was a surge in COVID-19 cases. “I don’t think it will necessarily have an impact on our burden rate… It will protect some of our employees,” said the commissioner on Jan. 7 in support of the measure.

The second mandate was championed by council members JoCasta Zamarripa and Marina Dimitrijevic. with Dimitrijevic criticizing Johnson’s decision not to use her authority to enact the mandate on her own as cases surged. Johnson said she didn’t want to lose her emergency health powers via new state legislation and as early as September asked the council to pass its own mandate if it wanted one.

The council ultimately did pass the new mandate on Jan. 16 and Acting Mayor Cavalier Johnson signed it into law, but not before multiple council members noted it would not come with enforcement. Ald. Mark Borkowski was the lone council member to vote against the mandate. Ald. Scott Spiker abstained, encouraging people to wear high-quality masks.

“Everything is couched as ‘may’, nothing says ‘shall,’” said Alderman Robert Bauman, whom Zamarripa credited with negotiating the expiration date and more limited enforcement, on Jan. 16. “They’ve already said they recommend people wear masks, now they’re saying they really, really recommend it.”

The City Hall debate was triggered as a result of a nationwide, late-2021 COVID-19 case surge. But cases and hospitalizations were already falling before the mandate was adopted after hitting record highs in early January. The latest Milwaukee County epidemiological report shows cases falling to a level last seen in July and hospitalizations also trending downward.

Organizations can still require masks on their premises. Masks are also still required inside all government buildings in Milwaukee.