NASHUA, N.H. – Although New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu has announced that Friday will be the last day of the statewide mask mandate, deciding not to renew Executive Orders #74, #81 and #87, masks will be required for the near future in New Hampshire’s second largest city.
In a release on Friday, the City of Nashua announced that Nashua Ordinance O-20-018 and O-20-029 will remain in effect until further notice, with evidence-based criteria being developed by the Nashua Board of Health on when these ordinances can safely be repealed.
Ordinance O-20-018 requires the use of face coverings in public settings where one is unable to maintain social distancing, excluding children under 10 and those unable to wear a face covering due to a medical condition.
Ordinance O-20-029 provides supplemental face covering regulations for businesses, gyms, places of amusement and personal care services.
“We all want to reopen our economy. We all want to keep our family, our friends and our community safe,” said Nashua Mayor Jim Donchess. “However, the medical and public health experts are clear: if we want to eradicate the virus, we need to continue to wear masks and we all need to get vaccinated.”
Sununu based his decision to not extend the state-wide mask mandate on the state achieving a 70 percent vaccination rate and dropping death rates from COVID-19.
On the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services COVID-19 dashboard as of April 16, 445 daily cases were reported on average from April 9 to April 16, a 10 percent increase from the previous week.
The dashboard reported 231 active cases of COVID-19 in Nashua on April 16, approximately six percent of the overall state total.
More information on the mask mandate in Nashua is available on the city’s website.