With record COVID-19 cases, a divided Johnson County board votes to mandate masks
After hearing from nearly 40 residents — the majority of whom were not wearing masks — the Johnson County Board of Commissioners voted to mandate face coverings in public, following Kansas’ statewide order.
Thursday’s 4-2 vote came as the county reports a record number of new coronavirus cases, and as health officials scramble to mitigate the spread of the disease.
“Wearing masks reduces transmission dramatically,” said Joseph LeMaster, county public health officer.
The decision follows Gov. Laura Kelly’s executive order that takes effect at 12:01 a.m. Friday, requiring face coverings in most indoor public spaces as well as outdoor areas where social distancing is difficult to maintain. There are exemptions for young children and people with certain health conditions.
County officials are allowed to alter or overturn the order. And despite a push to do so from many residents and two commissioners on Thursday, the county board voted to uphold the mandate.
Chairman Ed Eilert, as well as commissioners Becky Fast, Jim Allen and Janeé Hanzlick, voted in favor — emphasizing that face coverings are proven effective in mitigating further spread of COVID-19. They argued that mandating masks will help the economy remain open.
“In about 40 to 45 days, we will have our school systems opening up. If the current trend of the last 10 days to two weeks continues, at what risk are we willing to put our students?” Eilert said. “I don’t want to have teachers, I don’t want to have students, I don’t want to have parents afraid for the health of their family members because we haven’t done our job properly.”
Commissioner Mike Brown, who called for Thursday’s special meeting, as well as Commissioner Steve Klika, voted against the mandate, citing concerns about enforcement. Commissioner Michael Ashcraft abstained, saying he did not have enough time to review details of Kelly’s order, which were released shortly before the meeting began.
At the meeting, Brown challenged the county’s health experts, took stabs at Hanzlick and called the governor’s order “a political joke.”
“Nothing about how the governor has handled this is good government,” he said. “She has very much turned face masks into a political statement.”
The county’s health officials had pleaded for a mask mandate, as they reported skyrocketing new coronavirus cases — the highest daily counts since the pandemic began — and anticipated a burden on local hospitals.
“The increase in disease transmission is like a train wreck that is happening in slow motion. The train has come off the rails,” said LeMaster, who added that “as the number of cases rise, the number of hospitalizations and deaths will also continue to rise.”
On Wednesday alone, 106 new coronavirus cases were reported. In the past week, the county has seen a 24% increase in cases, said Sanmi Areola, public health director.
“We cannot afford to not control this now. If we don’t, the impact will be huge,” Areola said. “If we do not want to reinstitute more stringent rules, such as the weeks where we had shelter in place, wearing masks becomes very, very critical. It is by far the best tool we have available to us now.”
“We are at the tipping point,” he said.
As of Thursday afternoon, the county had reported 1,816 cases and 88 deaths. That’s up from the 1,646 cases and 86 deaths reported Monday.
About 35 residents spoke at the in-person meeting at the county board’s hearing room in Olathe. Several others held signs and waited outside. About 24 residents, many of whom did not wear masks, urged the county to “protect freedom” and make mask-wearing voluntary.
Sharon Madagan, a teacher at Olathe East High School, called the mandate “pathetic, tyrannical government.”
“Your decisions regarding this panic-demic, as I call it, are impacting opportunities for our youth,” she told the board. “Individual choice is still an important tenant of our nation, despite efforts to curtail that by government officials who believe they have our best interest in mind. As elected officials, it is your job to protect our freedom.”
About 12 residents argued the opposite, saying that wearing masks is one of the easiest ways to help keep everyone safe while out shopping or in other public spaces. A couple of them described losing loved ones to COVID-19.
Sam Huenergardt, CEO of the Mid-America Region of AdventHealth, shared a letter from the group’s Shawnee Mission hospital supporting the countywide mandate.
“We have been on the front line, caring for the COVID-19 patients during the pandemic. We’ve seen firsthand how this disease has taken lives in our community,” he said. “We agree with the research showing that mask mandates will cut the daily growth of (cases), but can also keep our economy open. … We must do more to protect each other.”
Before Kelly’s statewide order was announced, Kansas City and other nearby counties — Jackson, Douglas and Wyandotte — issued their own mandates.
On Tuesday, data presented by Kansas City Health Department Director Rex Archer indicated that states that required masks in public saw the number of new coronavirus cases decline by 25% from the first week to the third week of June. The states that did not require masks had an 85% increase then, according to Archer’s data.
“I think part of the issue is when it’s not actually mandated … people don’t know, are they really serious about this? Is it a recommendation? Does it really matter or not?” Archer said. “What we’ve learned over the smoking laws and a lot of other laws is once it is a mandate, it is very interesting to see that it becomes a self-reinforcing process where people out there will talk to other people about why aren’t they following the law. Where if it is not actually a requirement, people are less likely to do that.”
Archer was speaking during a conference call of the Mid-America Regional Council, where local health and political leaders discuss the regional coronavirus response.
“We think some of this (increase in cases) is tied to social events. We definitely know it’s tied to relaxation in some of the restrictions,” said Allen Greiner, medical officer for Wyandotte County. “Who knows what we’re going to have after this Fourth of July weekend?”
Stephen Arbo, city manager for Lee’s Summit, noted local elected leaders disagreed about how to approach the coronavirus pandemic.
“It’s my observation that it would seem like one simple thing that we should all able to agree upon is that masks ought to be a requirement for all the reasons that have been expressed already by medical directors,” Arbo said, “so people have an understanding of what is expected of them and their behavior.”
This story was originally published July 2, 2020 at 1:03 PM with the headline "With record COVID-19 cases, a divided Johnson County board votes to mandate masks."
