Milwaukee Mask Mandate Expires
Lasted less than six weeks. But businesses and organizations can still require masks on their premises.
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.
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.
“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.
More about the Coronavirus Pandemic
- MHD Release: Milwaukee Health Department Launches COVID-19 Wastewater Testing Dashboard - City of Milwaukee Health Department - Jan 23rd, 2024
- Milwaukee County Announces New Policies Related to COVID-19 Pandemic - County Executive David Crowley - May 9th, 2023
- DHS Details End of Emergency COVID-19 Response - Wisconsin Department of Health Services - Apr 26th, 2023
- Milwaukee Health Department Announces Upcoming Changes to COVID-19 Services - City of Milwaukee Health Department - Mar 17th, 2023
- Fitzgerald Applauds Passage of COVID-19 Origin Act - U.S. Rep. Scott Fitzgerald - Mar 10th, 2023
- DHS Expands Free COVID-19 Testing Program - Wisconsin Department of Health Services - Feb 10th, 2023
- MKE County: COVID-19 Hospitalizations Rising - Graham Kilmer - Jan 16th, 2023
- Not Enough Getting Bivalent Booster Shots, State Health Officials Warn - Gaby Vinick - Dec 26th, 2022
- Nearly All Wisconsinites Age 6 Months and Older Now Eligible for Updated COVID-19 Vaccine - Wisconsin Department of Health Services - Dec 15th, 2022
- City of Milwaukee Bi-Weekly COVID-19 Update - City of Milwaukee Health Department - Dec 9th, 2022
Read more about Coronavirus Pandemic here
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- February 20, 2016 - Cavalier Johnson received $250 from Robert Bauman