Wichita mayor frustrated with county decision to let everything open during pandemic

The mayor of Kansas’ largest city said he’s frustrated with a decision to lift coronavirus restrictions and wishes cities had more power to drive public health policy during the pandemic.

“We actually have no authority to pass stay-in orders or to pass the types of restrictions that let’s say the mayor of Kansas City, Missouri, can do,” Wichita Mayor Brandon Whipple said Thursday.

Instead, county governments across the state have assumed responsibility for coronavirus response after Gov. Laura Kelly’s phased-reopening emergency order expired Wednesday.

That means a large city like Wichita takes a back seat to the Sedgwick County Commission, which on Wednesday rejected advice from its county health officer and lifted all coronavirus restrictions on individuals and businesses, including limits on mass gatherings.

The commission voted to recommend that residents continue to follow optional social distancing guidelines.

Whipple said he thinks the commission’s decision could be a setback for the city if businesses and residents choose not to follow that advice.

So far, Wichita has avoided the kind of major COVID-19 outbreak seen in other urban areas across the country. A mass gathering ban could help keep the virus under control, he said.

“The experts are saying right now to limit public gatherings because this thing gets passed on while you’re asymptomatic,” he said. “So the idea that we would forego the advice of medical experts in what could literally be a life or death situation worries me.”

County Health Officer Dr. Garold Minns asked the county commissioners Wednesday to keep nightclubs and bars closed for now and to issue an order placing limits on mass gatherings. The commission instead chose to offer advice without enforceable rules, suggesting that businesses follow Kelly’s reopening plan.

“If you’re going to vote to recommend something, I don’t know why you wouldn’t order it,” Whipple said. “I think doing it as a recommendation adds confusion.”

Businesses that had been shuttered by the governor’s plan celebrated the county’s decision almost immediately.

Old Town nightclubs that have been shut down since the start of coronavirus restrictions in March took to social media to advertise reopening bashes planned for the weekend.

In Derby, Rock River Rapids water park announced it is reopening June 8 with a limit of 1,500 people a day. Park City’s 81 Speedway announced because of the county’s decision it could open up more seating starting Saturday.

Whipple said he doesn’t fault businesses for wanting to reopen but said he doesn’t think the onus should be on them to make public health decisions.

“That’s not their job,” he said. “Elected officials should be setting policy, and they should be setting public health policy based on the opinions of medical experts.”

Minns, who recommended limiting gatherings to 20 people, could place limits on public gatherings without the County Commission’s approval under state law.

He declined to comment.

County Manager Tom Stolz said Minns or the county commission, which also acts as the Board of Health, could step in at any time to issue an order banning large gatherings but won’t do so unless they become a problem.

“I don’t think anybody wants to do that,” Stolz said. “As long as the community is responsible, which we think they will be, and as long as our numbers stay as flat and as good as they are, I think he (Minns) is comfortable with the number as it is today and has no intention to create an order.”

But the county is closely monitoring how the community responds to restrictions being lifted to see if something needs to be put in place, he said.

“If we end up with an Ozarks situation here where we see something that is completely out of line, he (Minns) does have the authority, as does the Board of Health, to come back in and add regulation to that.”

After large crowds gathered at the Lake of the Ozarks over the Memorial Day weekend, prompting widespread outrage online, officials in Kansas and Missouri urged those visitors to self quarantine for two weeks.

This story was originally published May 28, 2020 at 5:00 PM.