State College Borough Council temporarily extends COVID masking ordinance. Here’s what comes next
State College Borough’s COVID masking ordinance has been extended through Dec. 7 to give the local board of health time to decide on its next step — and whether to recommend extending it longer.
Borough council voted unanimously at Monday night’s meeting to extend the ordinance an additional two weeks, from Nov. 22 to Dec. 7, because the State College Board of Health could not meet to discuss the matter before the ordinance expired. Borough manager Tom Fountaine said Monday he expected the board to meet sometime next week.
At that point, the board would then issue a formal recommendation to borough council on whether to extend (or end) the ordinance that requires everyone to mask up indoors — regardless of COVID-19 vaccination status — in any business or building open the public. Borough council could then choose to follow, or dismiss, that recommendation in a future council meeting.
The most recent ordinance went into effect in mid-September, although a stricter COVID-related ordinance was first passed in August 2020.
“So many of the issues that were present in September that resulted in the enactment of the ordinance are still present,” Fountaine said. “And that’s why we want the board of health to take a look at this and make a recommendation to Council.”
Businesses can be fined up to $300 per day for violating the ordinance, while individuals can be fined $300 per infraction. But State College police Lt. Greg Brauser said no such citations were written last month as the emphasis has been on “education, not citation.”
The ordinance is technically only in effect when Centre County remains in “high” transmission, as defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But the entirety of Pennsylvania remains in high transmission, along with more than 70% of the U.S.
From Nov. 6-12, Centre County saw 315 reported cases of COVID — an increase over the previous week’s 261 cases — while hospitalizations have fallen. According to Mount Nittany Medical Center’s dashboard, the hospital was treating 31 COVID patients Tuesday between the ages of 19 and 87. Four are currently in the ICU.
Since the pandemic’s start, Centre County has seen more than 21,000 cases and 248 deaths.
This story was originally published November 16, 2021 at 11:35 AM.
