Special Board of Aldermen 12-21-2021 Page 11
this so they can have this amazing freedom to do what they want and be who they want to be. There are no winners
or losers here tonight. We're all in this together to defeat this microbic nemesis by protecting the forgotten, the
immunocompromised, the youngest, and the oldest, they all win in the defense of our collective community health.
Wearing of a simple mask for the next month or so is not, in my opinion, too much to ask.
My final point is when asked why | have continued to wear a mask outside the office since March of 2020 when this all
began, | calmly respond | wear my mask out of respect for those around you, around me. Even as a fully vaccinated
person with a booster onboard, | don't know where your immune system is at the time we meet, or interact, or quietly
pass each other in the aisles at Lowe's, or Market Basket. | didn't even know what my own body is doing at any given
time or place in terms of creating antibodies against all we face. But for me if | can protect those around me by this
small gesture, then I've done my bit in the trenches where | live to minimize my chances of passing this silent and
deadly adversary on to someone else. Every establishment of the short term initiative is in strong support of one extra
tool in our toolbox, especially with the holidays and the cold winter months ahead that we can continue to use to help
battle this virus. Nothing more, nothing less, and thank you for letting me talk.
Alderman Dowd
So my question is, we all know that wearing a mask helps tremendously. One thing we don't know | don't think at this
point is do we need a better mask for the new variant? Do we need an N95 or a KN95? I'm hearing a lot of that in the
press. I'll leave that up to you.
The other question | have is do you think if we pass this ordinance that you're going to get a significantly greater
amount of people wearing masks? The ones that are opposed to it say they won't wear them and the businesses I've
talked to won't enforce it. So it's going to cause all kinds of confrontation. | just would like to get your opinion on
whether you think this is going to be significant.
Chuck Cappetta, MD
| don’t know what you define by significant? | mean, | think, the reality is we know despite the naysayers that masks
do help and so it's all about personal choice, personal freedom, as | mentioned here, and we all know you guys live it
every day. So | think if we can't protect one or two in our own individual bubble that we've all created for each other
and that's a step in the right direction. We're not going to move mountains. We in pediatrics take tiny steps, tiny
amounts every day, and every little success is a success. So we're not asking for the mountain. We're just asking for
the little tip of the iceberg and this, you know, | hear what you're saying. | respect what you're saying but | also concur
if we sit freely as a medical advisory group to you guys and women that this is the right thing at the right time in the
face of the numbers that are insurmountable and really scary. I've never been scared in my professional career. I'm
scared for kids. | don't know what they're doing. | don’t know what's going to happen to them under five in particular
and us adults, the grownups in the room need to step up and show, as an example, we're trying to protect their future
by wearing these masks.
Alderman Dowd
The other question | have is do you think that if we passed a major health emergency in Nashua and had signs that
said that masks are strongly recommended when you go in versus a mandate that there'd be a difference?
Bobbie Bagley, Director of Public Health and Community Services
Yes Alderman Dowd. We do believe that a mandate will help. We know that there are some people that are going to,
as it was mentioned, put on a mask without having a mandate in place and we know that there are going to be others
that will put on their masks because the mandate is in place. We also know that there are going to be those who are
just not going to do it. Our goal is to increase the number of mask wearers so that we can reduce the amount of virus
that is transmitted in the community. We need to keep those numbers down. So if more people are putting on a
mask, it reduces the amount of virus that's in the community.
You asked whether or not a different type of mask has to be used. This face covering with the double layers on it or
the surgical masks is all that's needed. And, again, is to stop the respiratory droplets from going from me to someone
else that you know near me or in the space that | might be in. So that covering will help reduce the spread of those
respiratory droplets in the environment. If more people are doing it, it does reduce the amount of virus that's
transmitted and that's what we want to do. We want to get more people with the mask on.
