PORTLAND (WGME) -- The Portland City Council is expected to vote Monday on a new mask mandate that would require residents and visitors to mask up indoors.
Maine and U.S. CDC currently recommend wearing a mask, but they are not required for businesses and restaurants, but that could soon change in Portland.
If the city goes back to mandating masks indoors, Portland would become the first community in the state to reinstate the rule since the state mandate expired in May.
The mandate would apply to all public indoor spaces not just municipal buildings.
The director of Health and Human Services is in support of the masking mandate, saying there are several other towns in New England that have required masks and their positivity rate has gone down since then.
For some, shifting toward wearing masks indoors wouldn’t be a big change.
“I have no issues with the mandate in the future. It didn’t seem as bad a little while ago, you know. Outdoors I wasn’t wearing my mask but indoors. COVID is still happening. It’s been since maybe a year and a half ago, so I’ve always just been wearing it right now just to be safe,” said Hannah Qiu, a student at the University of Southern Maine in Portland.
The special city council meeting will be at 6 p.m. over Zoom.