By Matt Mueller Culture Editor Published Jan 18, 2022 at 12:01 PM Photography: Flickr/Miki Yoshihito

The Common Council today voted to approve a new indoor mask mandate for the City of Milwaukee, going into place through March 1.

The mandate, which passed the Council on a 12-1 vote with one abstention (Ald. Borkowski was the lone nay vote, with Ald. Spiker abstaining), now goes to Acting Mayor Cavalier Johnson to either be signed or vetoed. 

As with previous mask mandates, the ordinance will require people ages three and older to wear masks in public indoor settings – with some exemptions, including those performing or participating in athletics as well as those who are actively eating or drinking in a bar or restaurant. However, the mandate comes with no fines for violators and minimal enforcement from the health department.

The City's previous indoor mask mandate expired on June 1, 2021 as people received their initial vaccinations and COVID case numbers plummeted. Things changed over the fall and winter, however, with the highly contagious new Delta and Omicron variants, currently causing cases to spike to daily new records and threatening to overcrowd and strain healthcare systems. 

To read the new mask mandate legislation, click here. And for information on where to get tested for COVID-19, check our guide

Stay tuned to OnMilwaukee for more updates.

Matt Mueller Culture Editor

As much as it is a gigantic cliché to say that one has always had a passion for film, Matt Mueller has always had a passion for film. Whether it was bringing in the latest movie reviews for his first grade show-and-tell or writing film reviews for the St. Norbert College Times as a high school student, Matt is way too obsessed with movies for his own good.

When he's not writing about the latest blockbuster or talking much too glowingly about "Piranha 3D," Matt can probably be found watching literally any sport (minus cricket) or working at - get this - a local movie theater. Or watching a movie. Yeah, he's probably watching a movie.