Rochester City Council Upholds Mask Mandate

Rochester, MN (KROC-AM) - The Rochester City Council consented to the Declaration of Local Emergency during an emergency session Sunday, requiring masks to be worn in indoor public spaces through February 7th.

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Rochester Mayor Kim Norton signed the declaration on Saturday, requiring masks to be worn in all indoor areas accessible to the public by all individuals, regardless of their vaccination status.

The requirement began Sunday at 6:00 am and will be in effect until 11:59 pm February 7, 2022.

Rochester mask mandate

The City Council voted 6-1 to uphold the declaration, the lone dissent was councilperson Mark Bransford.

The Mayor's Office said:

This requirement is going into effect due to the rapid spread of the Omicron Variant of SARS-CoV2 in Olmsted County. Local case counts are higher than they have ever been during the course of the pandemic and is causing significant stresses for the local healthcare system, both from volume of patients as well as the level of sickness experienced by health care providers themselves.

Olmsted County and the Mayo Clinic both shared support of the mandate.

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Vaccinations for COVID-19 began being administered in the U.S. on Dec. 14, 2020. The quick rollout came a little more than a year after the virus was first identified in November 2019. The impressive speed with which vaccines were developed has also left a lot of people with a lot of questions. The questions range from the practical—how will I get vaccinated?—to the scientific—how do these vaccines even work?

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Source: Rochester City Council Upholds Mask Mandate

Filed Under: Minnesota, Rochester, Minnesota

Categories: Local News