Commissioners on the Public Services Committee decided on Feb. 22 to continue the mask mandate in all city buildings.
The mandate went into effect in October 2021 and applies to all city-run buildings except the James Brown Arena and Bell Auditorium.
District 3 Commissioner Catherine McKnight proposed ending the mandate citing that reported cases of COVID-19 are waning.
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According to figures released by University Hospital, that facility has seen a 60% drop in cases since the beginning of February.
However, District 6 Commissioner Ben Hassan joined City Administrator Odie Donald Jr. in urging caution and said that another sudden outbreak of a COVID variant could cause disruptions in city services.
McKnight stated that she was never for the mandate and said she believed people should be able to choose whether they wear a mask.
“The city employees have the mask on at work, but then they leave and do what we all do, go out to the grocery store and other places where no one is wearing a mask,” McKnight said.
Later, Donald gave an update on the success of the Vax Up, Augusta! program that gave $100 incentives for citizens to receive the COVID vaccine. At first, the incentives were given only after the second shot was administered, but the policy was later amended giving the incentive for each round of vaccine, but not the boosters.
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The city allocated $1.5 million for the program, and Donald claimed that the initiative came in almost $640,000 under budget. According to Donald, the goal of the program was to provide 10,000 doses through the Health Department, and partnering agencies and the program ended up providing double the amount of the goal. Donald said 3,000 gift cards were given out during the program.
Donald said that the excess money could be reallocated to pay the salaries for positions that were created as a response to the pandemic. Federal funding for those positions will expire at the end of next year and the city will have to find alternative funding at that time or eliminate the positions.
Scott Hudson is the senior reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com
