June 2, 2021
Contact: Lisa Thurber
Director of Communications
(479) 575-8330
lthurber@fayetteville-ar.gov
Revised Fayetteville Mask Ordinance Recommends Vaccines, Masks for Unvaccinated
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — An ordinance proposing several revisions to Fayetteville’s mask mandate was passed unanimously by City Council at a meeting on Tuesday, June 1. The ordinance to amend Ordinance 6323 was walked on by Mayor Lioneld Jordan and reflects recently updated guidance from the City’s Board of Health and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
City Council passed Ordinance 6441 with an emergency clause, making it effective immediately across Fayetteville. A copy of the ordinance to amend the mask ordinance is available here: https://www.fayetteville-ar.gov/DocumentCenter/View/24377/Ordinance-6441
Under Ordinance 6441, everyone is encouraged to become vaccinated against COVID-19 as soon as possible.
Fully vaccinated persons are no longer required to wear a face covering in indoor public settings. However, private businesses have the right to enforce their own mask requirements on their premises if they chose to do so. The City Board of Health advises that “fully vaccinated” means having received the final dose of vaccine and having completed the 14-day post-vaccination time frame.
Persons who are not fully vaccinated are recommended to continue wearing face masks until they become fully vaccinated. Children under two years of age are excepted from this recommendation. Reasonable accommodations may be made for individuals with disabling conditions that prevent wearing a face mask.
All persons, regardless of vaccination status, are required to wear face coverings in healthcare settings, on mass transit, in prisons and jails and in homeless shelters.
Section 5 of the original mask ordinance passed in June 2020 specified that “an ordinance to repeal Ordinance 6323 shall be placed on the City Council’s meeting agenda immediately after the Governor’s emergency declaration ends.” The statewide emergency order was lifted at 11:59 p.m. on May 30, which is why the new ordinance was walked on to Tuesday’s City Council meeting. Section 5 has been updated with a new “sunset clause” noting that the ordinance becomes inoperable on July 28, 2021 per a new state law banning local mask mandates.
An updated sign for businesses to use to help encourage vaccinations and drive awareness of new mask recommendations is available at https://www.fayetteville-ar.gov/3883/Coronavirus-Updates. Spanish and Marshallese translations of the sign will be added as soon as possible.
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