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SANDPOINT — While encouraged, masks will no longer be required in East Bonner County Library District facilities as of June 1.

The library board voted April 30 in a special meeting to discuss lifting its requirement for facial coverings.

After 90 minutes of fact review and discussion, the trustees voted to discontinue the mask requirement effective June 1, the board said in a press release.

Staff and patrons who choose it have access to vaccination, and by June 1, most will be fully immunized, library officials said in the release.

"Masks will be encouraged, but no longer required," officials said in the release. "The board will continue to monitor COVID-19 cases along with new information and reassess the policy as the situation changes."

EBCLD officials thanked all the patrons who have been so supportive of this policy and remind them that our curbside service will continue should they be uncomfortable entering the library without a mask requirement.

The mask mandate was the source of two peaceful protests at the Sandpoint Library — the first in late July 2020 and the second in late March. Both times, several dozen attempted to enter the library without facial coverings.

In the first protest, two library staff members blocked the group's entrance to the library, prompting some to question the legality of the mask requirement. In the second, the group was met by Sandpoint Police officers who warned members they could not enter without a facial covering.

Protesters tried to make their case without masks, social distancing or raised voices, but officers politely affirmed the library district's position on the mask requirement. Meanwhile, a few mask-wearing library patrons mildly grumbled about the spectacle as they made their way around the protest.

In both protests, protesters were warned that they could be trespassed from the premises if they continued to cause a disturbance or attempted to enter the library without a facial covering.

East Bonner County Library District Director Ann Nichols said in March that the board enacted the policy to protect both staff and patrons.

"We are not making a political statement with masking — it is just a health precaution," she said at the time. "We have many people who use the library who are very grateful that we require masks. No one wants to get sick."

The district first adopted the mask mandate in late June 2020, after closing three months due to the novel coronavirus pandemic and opting to provide curbside service and expand online options to ensure access to library services.