WEST BOYLSTON, Mass. - The return of a mask mandate in West Boylston is disappointing for Pastor Bryan Levangie, but something he says needed to be done.

"People are kind of in all different positions. But at the end of the day, we just as a church here in West Boylston, we just think it's the responsible thing to do to follow the regulations of the town," Levangie said.

Wednesday was the first day masks had to be worn again inside all indoor spaces, public or private. Levangie says even before the town mandate, Next Level Church already had thorough safety protocols.

"We asked families to keep socially distant still," Levangie said. "People definitely still wear masks coming in. And then one thing we've seen, we've seen a lot of people still stay at home."

At a meeting last week, the town’s Board of Health pointed to increased COVID-19 transmission in the month of August as their reasoning for the action.

"West Boylston had a rate of infection 34.6 per 100,000," board member John Sullivan said at their September 8 meeting. "Again, the highest infection rate among the 60 towns in Worcester County."

Low vaccination rates among residents were also a concern for the board. A little more than half of the town is fully vaccinated.

"You should have forty-something percent of people walking around that have masks on all the time," said Board Member Tracy Gagnon. "And for quite a while you didn't see that."

The mandate is for everyone, vaccinated or not. Levangie says until COVID-19 data shows otherwise, it's his duty to keep his visitors safe.

"I'm just going to be respectful of that and be responsible as a leader of the community to do what's been asked and just go from there," Levangie said.

The Board of Health says they'll be looking at COVID-19 data on a week by week basis, and they'll remove the mask mandate when they feel the numbers are in a safe enough place to do so.