It is widely believed that the Guilford County Board of Commissioners meeting as the Guilford County Board of Health will rescind the mask mandate for Guilford County at the Monday, Nov. 15 meeting.

However, there is a widespread rumor that once the county rescinds the mask mandate the City of Greensboro will implement its own mask mandate.

When asked if there were any truth to this rumor, Greensboro Mayor Nancy Vaughan answered with an emphatic, “No.”

Vaughan said that there was no intention to impose a mask mandate on the City of Greensboro.

She did say that rescinding the mask mandate would not affect the current requirement for city employees regarding masks.

Vaughan noted that as mayor she would not be able to impose a mask mandate because, when the county invoked the mask mandate, she withdrew the state of emergency for the City of Greensboro.

In order for the mayor to impose a mask mandate, a state of emergency would have to be declared, and with COVID-19 numbers trending consistently down it would be a difficult argument to make that a state of emergency was necessary.

Vaughan said that the city would continue to monitor the numbers, particularly after the holidays.

She said, “We will continue to monitor these numbers and encourage people to wear masks if they are more comfortable wearing a mask and encourage people to get vaccinated.”

Vaughan also said that she had not gotten a legal opinion on it, but that she didn’t see any reason businesses couldn’t require masks in their establishments if that was their choice.

When asked about the city imposing a mask mandate, Councilmember Marikay Abuzuaiter said, “I haven’t heard that.”

The City Council met for long closed sessions on Tuesday, Nov. 9 and Thursday, Nov. 11, so if there was any plan in the works for the City Council to impose a mask mandate it would be unlikely that it had not been mentioned