The mask mandate as it currently exists is unscientific, ineffective and detrimental.

We are petitioning for a change to the current mask mandate order.

To be clear, we are not "anti-maskers." We believe in science and the role of government to keep us safe.

But as you know, masks are not the most effective means to minimize risk of serious illness or death that may result from COVID. Vaccines are our best hope, and yet there has been no action to mandate vaccination checks.

The current mask mandate forces hundreds of workers to wear a mask for hours through demanding shifts, often in spaces where patrons would be better protected by a vaccination check.

The mask mandate is smothering businesses throughout town. Businesses have reported decreased sales and cancellations over the past weeks. Future reservations are stifled, stores are reporting a sharp reduction in shoppers, the ferry is laying off workers due to dramatically reduced passenger load, tourism website traffic is at mid-winter levels, and visitors are a fraction of what is usual at this time of year. This also translates to decimated income for service industry workers who are also forced to wear masks for hours at a time. Rather than helping local small businesses who have been struggling and barely hanging on for 18 months now and who are the backbone of the local economy and tax base, not to mention the social fabric of Provincetown, the mask mandate in its current form is suffocating us. We are asking for your help.

As you know, people who are vaccinated have a very low risk of serious illness or death. The mask mandate is primarily protecting the unvaccinated few. This is unfair, ineffective, and very costly. Small businesses and wage workers are paying the price for the unvaccinated few. Early reports show that vaccinated people who have had ‘breakthrough’ COVID infections have greater immunity than people who have been vaccinated but have not had COVID.

The BOH and BOS empowered the town manager to make a choice about whether to impose a mask mandate, and we are respectfully asking that you use this power to make the right choice, and end the mask mandate as it currently stands.

As an alternative, please consider:

• Empowering business owners to make the choice whether to mandate mask use in their businesses. We are lucky to live in a town with smart, progressive, respectful business owners and residents, and we can trust each other to make good decisions.
• Mandating vaccine checks where feasible: at entry points to town such as ferries and hotels/guesthouses, and in higher risk spaces such as indoor nightclubs, gyms and phase 4 facilities and venues. This is the ONLY way to prevent serious illness caused by COVID19.
• If a mask mandate is absolutely unavoidable, it should be limited to those higher risk spaces: indoor nightclubs, high capacity indoor venues and other phase 4 spaces, and for unvaccinated individuals.

The survival of small business and wage workers in Provincetown depends on the action you take now. Provincetown is a special place, but without small businesses, the jobs we create, the attraction we provide, the economy we support, and gathering spaces we create, this town would cease to exist as we know it. We ask that you take quick action - as you know, we are dependent on these limited weeks of summer. Please help us survive by supporting the reasonable changes outlined above.