ROCHESTER — To mask or not to mask?

That was the question at an Aug. 18 Rochester Board of Health meeting, where a mask requirement inside town buildings was approved.

The requirement, set to become effective on Aug. 19, mandates that masks be worn inside town buildings when six feet of social distancing cannot be maintained.

“We have to set the example,” Board member Sarah Eby said.

While the board voted 2-1, with Eby and David Souza in favor and member Glenn Lawrence opposed, the decision didn’t come easy.

The board went back and forth multiple times on the exact wording of the measure — whether masks should be “required” or “recommended” in town buildings.

“I don’t want to take a right away from people and that’s what I feel like we’re doing,” Lawrence said.

Of the voting board members at the meeting, just Eby wore a mask. Souza, who was on the fence about the decision from the start, was eventually convinced a requirement was the right thing to do.

He noted that he personally doesn’t wear a mask unless it is required of him, and he figured most people in the town are the same way.

“Nobody’s going to follow any of the other stuff,” like the mask recommendations posted on the door to Town Hall, Souza said.

The requirement would not apply to private businesses in town, but Eby said some might be motivated by the town to create mandates of their own.

“I think other places in town might say ‘I want it,’” she said.