Citing 90% drop in COVID cases, Dodge City rescinds mask law: ‘people are tired of it’
Government officials in Dodge City have rescinded their mask ordinance, saying it was effective at lowering the rate of new COVID-19 cases.
“It has been very, very successful in doing I think what we wanted it to do, as far as the mask ordinance,” City Manager Nick Hernandez said during Tuesday’s meeting.
The city with an estimated population of 27,555 has distributed more than 100,000 masks to the community.
Hernandez said data from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, which reports information by county, showed a 90% drop in the seven-day rolling average of new cases. It dropped from 43 new cases per day to 4.3 new cases per day between when the ordinance was passed Nov. 16 and Jan. 17.
“With our numbers as low as they are, and very obviously out in the public the people are tired of it, they’re just not wanting to wear them,” said Dodge City Commissioner Joe Nuci, who made the motion to rescind the ordinance. “They want to make the choice on their own. Stores can still require them if they want to.”
Nuci was the only commissioner to vote against implementing the mask mandate in November, calling it an “overreach.”
Police never issued any tickets to people who violated the mask ordinance, Hernandez said, though officers did issue one or two warnings within the first couple weeks. During that same period, police also reported two cases of “trespassing related to the masks, from individuals not wanting to wear their masks.”
Breaking the mask law was a misdemeanor with a $25 fine.
Commissioners wore masks during Tuesday’s in-person meeting, but public access was limited to virtual viewing. Mayor Rick Sowers was the only member of the commission to vote against rescinding the mandate early. The mask law had been scheduled to expire Feb. 15.
“What they’re going to hear and the front page of the paper is going to be: ‘city removes mask ordinance,’” Sowers said. “And that thought process is the only thing that’s going to be heard or read, and people are going to think it’s safe to take my mask off because the city said so, because the city’s not requiring it anymore.”
Case numbers worsened in Sedgwick County this fall after Wichita allowed its mask law to expire. Pandemic indicators had improved significantly in September, and the council did not extend the ordinance in October, despite signs the county’s numbers were worsening.
A month later, the Wichita area experienced record-breaking rates of new cases and positive tests, school closures, zero capacity in hospital ICUs and a surge in deaths.
Ford County has rejected Gov. Laura Kelly’s emergency orders on masks. Dodge City Commissioner E. Kent Smoll said the city’s mask law could be brought back “if there is a significant increase in cases.” Hernandez suggested using a benchmark of 20 new cases per day.
“Hopefully we just don’t get back to that point,” Hernandez said.
With a population of 33,619 in Ford County, 20 new cases per day for seven days would equate to a rate of 416 new cases per 100,000 people. That is more than four times the red zone threshold established by the White House COVID-19 Task Force.
The county was nearly nine times the red zone threshold on Nov. 16, with the 43 new cases per day equating to a seven-day rate of about 895 new cases per 100,000 people.
At the current 4.3 new cases per day that Hernandez cited, the county has a weekly rate of about 90 new cases per 100,000 people. That is toward the upper end of the orange zone of the White House’s standards.
“I believe the numbers are where they need to be,” said Commissioner Brian Delzeit.
“This reduction,” he continued, “we got there because people did listen to the medical people ... and the fact that masks do work toward slowing this down. It certainly doesn’t stop it. But I think we’ve proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that mask ordinances do work.”
Sowers warned that coronavirus case rates could go back up, comparing the timing to the end of the summer when case counts “jumped dramatically” within weeks of school starting.
He spoke of high hospitalization numbers, a recent surge in deaths, “a virus that’s running rampant” and protecting public health. He said that significantly more people need to be vaccinated before “we’re going to be able to go back to somewhat normal.”
There are at least four active coronavirus clusters in Ford County, the KDHE reported on Wednesday. It named outbreaks at Brookdale Senior Living, Kansas Soldiers Home, National Beef and public school district USD 443.
There could be additional clusters, as the KDHE identified only a fraction of all active outbreaks statewide.
Southwest Kansas has the worst percentage of available ICU beds, according to regional reports issued Tuesday by the Kansas Hospital Association and KDHE. The 18% available capacity — just four beds — is in the White House’s red zone for hospital indicators.
“I’m telling you, we’re taking our foot off the gas on this last lap,” Sowers said. “I want to beat this thing. I want to beat this thing so bad and keep the community safe that I’m willing to take a little bit of heat on having the mask ordinance and say, you know what, for the public good for the public health, we need to keep wearing the masks.”
Backlash against the mandate led former Mayor Joyce Warshaw to resign in December, citing concerns for her safety. Investigators later concluded the angry comments were not criminal threats.
Smoll said the government should let people and businesses “be responsible.” Delzeit said he expects people will continue to wear masks.
“There comes a point where the community has got to learn that, whether there’s rules out there or not, we have responsibilities to one another to protect each other,” Delzeit said. “Even though the mask ordinance isn’t there, I feel pretty confident that the majority of people are going to continue to wear it because they see the value.”