Get Ready to Mask Up Portsmouth

It's official.  According to seacoastonline.com, the City Council was inundated with calls after in the days leading up to the proposed, and now postponed, Trump Rally which was scheduled for July 11 at Portsmouth International Airport at Pease about masks.  Assistant Mayor Jim Splaine and Councilor Deglan McEachern put forth a proposal that “face coverings be worn at all times in the city of Portsmouth when people are within social-distancing guidelines of 6 feet or less, as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”

How does the live free or die state feel about this?  Judging from personal experience, people are either very supportive of mask-wearing or super anti-mask.  If the last two weeks are an example, I am seeing a lot more mask-wearing recently.  Two weeks ago, I went out to the beach with my wife and didn’t see a lot of masks.  We went last weekend and saw quite a few.  To be reasonable, the Portsmouth mask resolution does not include children under 6 or people that have a medical condition that prevents them from wearing a mask.  It also excludes those that are performing exercise activities, but you must maintain social distance while exercising.

The Portsmouth city council will work with an attorney this week to come up with a formal ordinance, which would include fines for non-compliance.  The reaction in the community has been mixed but with a lot of passion on both sides of the mask/no mask argument.  Seacoastonline.com reports that Councilor Paige Trace said, “We avoided a very potentially explosive situation, shall we say, this past weekend.”