Sedgwick County’s new public health order pressures businesses to slow COVID-19 surge

Sedgwick County is putting the onus on businesses to help slow the coronavirus as it rapidly spreads in the Wichita area.

A new health order signed by Sedgwick County Health Officer Dr. Garold Minns on Tuesday requires businesses to take steps to track the number of people coming and going and ensuring patrons comply with social distancing and a mask mandate.

Businesses and organizations must also “make reasonable efforts to inform members of the public as to applicable mask or other face covering requirements” and “require all employees, customers, visitors, members or members of the public to wear a mask or other face covering” when working in a space that’s visited by customers or members of the public, whether customers are around or not.

If they fail to do so, they could face penalties up to $500. Members of the public may file complaints at sedgwickcounty.org/covid-19/violations. Enforcement will be targeted at businesses and organizations who are blatantly violating the public health order, not individuals, Sedgwick County Manager Tom Stolz said.

Sedgwick has surpassed Johnson, the state’s most populous county, as the top county for new cases in Kansas over the past three weeks. With the recent surge, Sedgwick County also surpassed Johnson County in total cases.

Wichita’s hospitals are flooded with COVID-19 patients, with a high of 272 as of Monday. That’s quadruple the number of COVID patients in Wichita on Oct. 19.

Minns, dean of the University of Kansas School of Medicine-Wichita, issued a public health order earlier this month that limited most gatherings and businesses to 100 people or 50% of a building’s fire code capacity, whichever is less.

On Tuesday, Minns further limited mass gatherings to 25 persons or fewer. Mass gatherings don’t include people’s homes, retail shops, restaurants, gyms, bars, night clubs or religious buildings such as churches, and the new limits don’t take effect until after Thanksgiving on Friday.

Masks remain mandatory in indoor public settings.

Details of county health rules

In Sedgwick County, these rules are in place, along with a mask mandate:

▪ Shopping — Retail stores will be required to inform patrons that masks are mandatory to enter the business. Also, each store’s management will be responsible for enforcing mask requirements and questioning those not wearing masks to determine if they have some personal exemption.

▪ Sports — Attendance at sporting events, tournaments and other recreational events will be limited to a maximum of two spectators per participant. School sports will continue to be regulated by school boards and interscholastic athletic associations.

▪ Bars and nightclubs — The closing time for all bars and clubs will be set at 11 p.m., rolled back from the current 1 a.m. curfew.

▪ Restaurants — Minns’ new order adds restaurants to the late-night curfew. In-person dining will have to shut down at 11 p.m., similar to bars and nightclubs.

▪ Table seating — In eating and drinking establishments, seating will be capped at eight people per table, with at least six feet of separation or a Plexiglass or other physical barrier between tables.

Complaints will be investigated by the city or county, depending on where the alleged violation has occurred. Wichita, the largest city in Kansas, is the only city so far to agree to allow Sedgwick County to enforce the order within its city limits.

Wichita’s neighboring cities have not moved to allow county enforcement. On Monday, Haysville’s City Council — meeting in person without 6-foot social distancing, plexiglass separation screens or masks on a majority of the council members — voted 6-1 against allowing the county to enforce the public health order within its city limits.

Derby, on the other hand, passed an ordinance months ago empowering its police department to enforce the county’s order through its municipal court.

White House report on Kansas cases

The move by the county to increase enforcement followed an alarming report from the White House Coronavirus Task Force that placed Wichita, Sedgwick County and Kansas in the “red zone,” meaning the number of new cases per 100,000 people is greater than 100. The rate of new cases per capita in Kansas is more than six times that, at 669 cases per 100,000 people.

The White House suggested taking stronger measures than Minns’ latest order. A list of recommendations sent by Vice President Mike Pence to Gov. Laura Kelly’s office, part of an ongoing set of recommendations to states from the White House Coronavirus Task Force, called for stricter adherence COVID-19 public health practices in Kansas.

Kansas ranked 4th in the country in “test positivity,” the percentage of tests that come back positive. The state was 12th in new cases per capita and 13th in new deaths per capita for the week of Nov. 14 to Nov. 20.

The White House report called on local officials to “consider pausing extracurricular school activities,” including athletics. Some high school and youth sports have been allowed to continue through the pandemic. Minns recently amended his order to decrease crowd sizes at games, allowing two spectators for each player.

Wichita State University’s men’s basketball team has been forced to move back the start of its season after team members tested positive for COVID-19. The team was recently dropped from a tournament after multiple players tested positive for COVID-19 when the team arrived in South Dakota for the three-day Crossover Classic, and it’s likely that the entire program will be forced to quarantine for the next two weeks, raising the possibility that the school will cancel its first two home games.

The White House recommends masking at all times in public, increased social distancing and more testing of people without symptoms of COVID-19.

“This must be combined with significant behavior change of all Americans,” the report said. “Ensure masks at all times in public, increase physical distancing through significant reduction in capacity in public and private indoor spaces, and ensure every American understands the clear risks of ANY family or friend interactions outside of their immediate household indoors without masks.”

Until Sedgwick County gets a handle on the virus and returns to the yellow zone, restaurant capacity should be cut to less than 25% of indoor capacity and bar hours should be limited, the White House said.

The White House report said with “strong mitigation,” Kansas could drop to the yellow zone — a more than tenfold decrease in cases per capita — by Christmas Day.

“In states with aggressive mitigation, we are beginning to see the impact of that mitigation despite the cooling weather,” the White House recommendation said. “We are also seeing stabilization in many European countries that implemented strong public and private mitigation, but preserved schooling. However, in many areas of the country, mitigation efforts are inadequate or too recently implemented to see a significant impact.

“All states and all counties must flatten the curve to sustain the health system for both COVID and non-COVID emergencies,” the report continued.

This story was originally published November 24, 2020 at 3:03 PM.