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Businesses in New Haven Can Face Fines for Not Following Mask Mandate: Elicker

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Businesses in New Haven that do not follow the mask mandate can now face a fine, Mayor Justin Elicker announced on Wednesday.

Elicker said a mask mandate went into effect in the city on August 8 and since then, there have been many people and businesses that have complied.

It follows the governor’s executive order to let municipalities issue mask mandates instead of one statewide order.

The mandate was put in place after New Haven County reached a high level of community transmission for the virus, according to the CDC.

Since there are still violations of the mask mandate, Elicker said the city will be conducting enforcement visits with various officials including the health department and the fire department.

There is a three tiered system that the city is using. The first is a verbal warning. So far, they have instituted 28 verbal warnings to various businesses since the pandemic began, City Health Director Maritza Bond said.

The second tier is a written warning and the third tier is closing down the business, Bond added. In the first wave of COVID-19 cases, she said the city had to close 13 establishments due to violations.

Now, for every incident after a written warning, a business is going to be fined $100, according to Elicker.

At this point, the city is seeing 200 covid-19 cases per week and is still considered a place with high risk transmission, officials added.

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