Want to report violation of COVID-19 pandemic rules? Sedgwick County offers no help
Five days after voting to remove what they called a “snitch line” on their website, Sedgwick County commissioners voted Wednesday to provide no avenue for the public to report businesses or groups violating health rules put in place to slow the spread of COVID-19.
County Manager Tom Stolz provided commissioners, who also sit as the county’s Board of Health, with three options for an alternative to replace the now-deactivated portal for reporting violations, but commissioners rejected them all.
That leaves county residents no instructions of any kind for reporting illegal mass gatherings or close-contact activities that violate the health rules laid down in an executive order by Gov. Laura Kelly on April 30.
Commissioner Jim Howell said he doesn’t think the county needs to enforce the health rules because most people are complying voluntarily and while there will be some violations, coronavirus cases aren’t currently clogging Wichita-area hospitals.
“I think where we are right now is a good position,” he said.
Commissioner Lacey Cruse made the case for enforcement, likening the situation to other public-health laws such as the ban on indoor smoking in public places and the requirement that motorists wear seat belts.
“If there are no consequences (for violating the rules), how do we expect people to comply?” she said.
Stolz’s three suggested options for reporting were:
▪ Refer all enforcement issues to the governor’s office.
▪ Have people call the 911 emergency line to report violations.
▪ Publish the non-emergency numbers of all local police departments, and the governor’s office number, on the county website.
The third option was the only one actually put to a vote.
It died 2-3 with commissioners Pete Meitzner and David Dennis in favor and Howell, Cruse and Michael O’Donnell opposed.
Cruse said she was fine with publishing the police numbers but didn’t feel it was right to clog the governor’s office line with violation reports.
“I think people would get better, faster service if they were dealing with us rather than sending them to Topeka,” she said.
Dennis replied that he didn’t want to shift enforcement to Topeka, but to provide an alternative number for questions on the governor’s order and to resolve situations that couldn’t be handled locally.
Cruse proposed two alternate motions: One to create a single number for coronavirus complaints and another that would have published the police non-emergency numbers, but without the governor’s office number.
Both died for lack of a second.
Howell said the idea of a single line for reporting violations was essentially the same thing as the snitch line the commission got rid of last week.
And Dennis said he wouldn’t support publishing the multiple police numbers without doing the same with the governor’s number.
The health rules at issue are the remnants of an earlier, stricter stay-at-home order that the governor put in place to slow the spread of COVID-19.
The earlier order had temporarily shuttered thousands of businesses, most of which she allowed to reopen starting on Monday as the first phase of a plan to restart the economy.
Kelly has said her strategy is to proceed gradually with reopening to prevent a resurgence of coronavirus cases that would force the state back into stay-at-home conditions.
The rules still prohibit mass gatherings of more than 10 people, although a restaurant or other business can serve more than that as long as the groupings of up to 10 are separated by more than six feet.
The order requires that large entertainment venues, sports stadiums, bars, casinos, theaters, museums and fitness centers remain closed for the time being.
The order also continued closure for certain businesses where close extended contact with customers is required, including hair and nail salons, barber shops and tattoo parlors.
This story was originally published May 6, 2020 at 3:45 PM.
