No penalty for non-compliance, though
~by Janice Harbaugh for GreeneCountyNewsOnline
An historic special session of the Greene County board of supervisors was electronically attended by more than 30 people through Zoom on November 12. The meeting was to consider a face mask/face shield mandate for Greene County. After nearly an hour of discussion, the board unanimously approved a resolution calling on everyone in the county to wear face coverings when in public.
Board chair John Muir set the tone for the hour-long meeting when he said, “We all know each other. We all know the stress. I believe this is temporary. I know we have to try (some form of remediation) because of the rising numbers.”
At a previous board meeting on Monday, representatives of healthcare and county agencies had acknowledged “skyrocketing” rates of Covid-19 infection in the county. As of Wednesday morning, the positivity rate was at 23.3 percent with 178 active cases of Covid-19, well over the 15 percent positivity rate required for schools to move into remote learning.
County attorney Thomas Laehn discussed legal issues in Resolution 2020-53: Resolution Mandating the Use of Face Coverings in Greene County to Mitigate the Transmission of Covid-19. The underlying issue of restriction of freedom of speech by requiring the wearing of masks is a possible source of litigation, according to Laehn.
“However,” Laehn said, “There’s no such thing as an absolute right. Infringement (of rights) might be necessary for the government to protect citizens in a pandemic.”
“Do what you can without triggering litigation,” Laehn told the board. “Defining face covering to include face shields could address the freedom of speech issues.” Laehn noted, however, “Science says face shields are not as effective (in preventing spread of virus.)”
Laehn spoke of Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds’ recent emergency proclamation as “pre-empting local ordinances or mandates.” This proclamation requires no penalty for violating a face mask mandate.
Laehn said the proposed Greene County resolution would become enforceable if the Governor’s proclamation expired or was terminated.
CMuir said, “Nobody is happy about how uncontrollable this feels. My opinion, based on advice from public health, is the one thing we can do to try to alleviate this is to wear face masks. My focus is on Greene County. What can we do to slow it down and take control?”
Supervisor Dawn Rudolph attended the special session electronically and spoke several times about pros and cons of a face mask mandate in the county.
“I’ve had conversations with people on both sides,” Rudolph said. “I’m not a fan of masks, but I’ll follow whatever is decided. I realize the numbers are up and we need to do something.”
Rudolph questioned how much law enforcement will be involved in a face mask mandate and she spoke about the needs of first responders and front-line workers for protective equipment.
Dennis Morlan, emergency management director for the county, responded, “Every rescue has personal protective equipment. If they don’t, they should call me and we’ll take care of it.”
Rudolph also noted, “Big groups are just as harmful. We don’t want to ask businesses to close. That would put some people under.”
“We’re not looking to punish anyone,” Muir said. “Law enforcement can be called (when there are face mask violations), but we all have choices. (People who don’t want to wear face masks) can go home, leave the store, or put on a mask.”
Laehn said private businesses can enact their own policies.
“(Face masks) could just be another form of personal hygiene. We aren’t trying to infringe on government-given or God-given rights,” Muir said.
The board discussed a sunset date to the resolution and agreed to an ending date of January 15, 2021.
Resolution 2020-53 was adopted by unanimous vote of the board. The face coverings mandate goes into immediate effect. There is no penalty for violating the mandate, however.
The board-approved resolution lays out places and instances when face coverings “shall” be worn.
According to the resolution, face coverings shall be worn in public when a maintaining a 6-foot distance between people isn’t possible; inside any indoor public setting, such as grocery stores, pharmacies, retail stores, and other public settings that are not a place of residence and when among persons who don’t live in the same household; outside when social distancing isn’t possible; and when using transportation that’s available to the public.
The resolution describes places and times when it is not required to wear a face covering and it describes the most effective type of covering to wear.
Children aged 2 and younger are exempt from the mandate in addition to people who have trouble breathing or who are unconscious or would have trouble removing a face covering without assistance. Those who have been told by a medical professional they should not wear face coverings are also exempt.
The entire resolution is posted here.
