So much for teamwork — Haysville, Butler County say COVID rules don’t apply to them

There’s a lot we still don’t know about the novel coronavirus and the recent surge of COVID-19 in Kansas.

One thing we do know is that it will require everyone working together to get a handle on this pandemic, curb the spread and ease the mounting strain on local hospitals.

Unfortunately, leaders haven’t gotten the message in Haysville, Butler County and a number of other Wichita-area communities that are willfully, irrationally defying the advice of public health officials — and that endangers us all.

The Haysville City Council met Monday — in person without appropriate distancing, plexiglass separations or masks on a majority of council members — and voted 6-1 against allowing Sedgwick County to enforce its current public health order within Haysville’s city limits.

COVID-19 is serious, some council members said. But not serious enough to do anything about.

Council member Danny Walters downplayed the severity of COVID-19 and used unconfirmed personal anecdotes to contradict overwhelming scientific evidence that masks help curb the spread of the coronavirus.

He said his 90-something mother doesn’t wear a mask sometimes, and she’s fine. He said someone in his son’s class tested positive for the coronavirus one day and negative three days later, which shows that tests can be bogus. He said he knew someone who contracted MRSA, a bacterial infection, from wearing a mask.

“We all have multiple stories and things that we believe in,” Walters said.

This isn’t about stories. It’s about science. But Walters went on.

“You say that you have evidence you believe about wearing the mask. I say I have evidence that I believe that it’s worse, at times, to wear the mask.

“There’s so much of this going on, and I think it’s fear-based, and it’s making us more into a police state.”

Wichita city leaders voted last week to help Sedgwick County enforce its orders mandating masks in public settings and putting restrictions on businesses and mass gatherings. It’s a wise move, considering we have more new cases and more total cases of COVID-19 than Johnson County, which has significantly more residents.

But it won’t help if leaders and residents of nearby communities continue to ignore science and defy reasonable measures to protect public health.

The Butler County Commission on Tuesday opted out of Gov. Laura Kelly’s new statewide mask mandate, which was set to go into effect at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday.

Way to beat the clock, Butler County, and do the wrong thing in the nick of time.

The leaders’ inaction means residents of Andover, Augusta, and El Dorado — many of whom work, shop and conduct business in Wichita — can do whatever they want at home. And some will end up in Wichita hospitals, which already are filled to overflowing.

No wonder Pete Meitzner, chairman of the Sedgwick County Commission, sent a letter to 23 other counties recently, asking leaders for their help to curb the spread of the virus. All the counties have one or more COVID-19 patients in Wichita hospitals.

“I urge you to support the slowing of this virus with any necessary means you believe would be most effective,” Meitzner wrote.

“I respect your leadership and wish all of us can come together once again to support our region, reduce the spread of COVID-19, and decrease this surge in our hospital system.”

A pandemic of this magnitude requires bold action and a clear, unified strategy. Kansas already has suffered from a lack of federal response and a piecemeal statewide approach to masks and other measures.

It’s unfortunate that some Wichita-area communities are demanding immunity from local COVID-19 measures, because no resident is immune to the devastating potential effects of the virus.