The Aiken City Council will on Thursday debate a new citywide mask mandate, days after earlier emergency rules expired.
The 6 p.m. special-called meeting will be open to the public, but coronavirus restrictions will be in place. The meeting will be livestreamed, as well.
The city’s emergency mask policy, first instituted in July and extended in September, expired noon Monday. Discussions about a new, more open-ended mask measure officially began Nov. 12.
“This is a divisive issue,” City Council member Ed Girardeau said last week. “It just goes on and on and on.”
A new mask rule could take effect before the end of the month, documents show.
Thousands of coronavirus cases and dozens of related deaths have been confirmed in Aiken County. Nearly 3,900 deaths had been recorded statewide as of Tuesday evening.
City Council meets at the downtown Municipal Building, 214 Park Ave. S.W.